A mother of three is now hospitalised after she was set on fire by her brother following a dispute over a pair of shoes on Thursday.
Samantha Schwartz, 35, of Lot 72 ‘D’ field, Sophia, is a patient in the Burns Care Unit of the George-town Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC), where she is nursing second degree burns to her upper body.
Speaking with Stabroek News yesterday, Ann Adams, a friend of Schwartz’s family said that she was across the street at her home, when she saw the woman standing on her steps.
From a distance, Adams said that she heard the confrontation between Schwartz and her brother but could not quite make out what exactly was being said. She added that she did not think much of the argument, since Samantha’s brother, Brian Haywood, a shoe repair man, is known for his temper.
Adams exclaimed that it was while she was inside her home that she heard screams. “When I go outside, I see Sam pon fire, fire all pon she back,” Adams said.
A relative of Schwartz who witnessed the attack said that he saw when Haywood approached the woman and inquired about a pair of shoes missing from his shoe repair shop.
He said Schwartz denied having any knowledge of where the pair of shoes might be. This, he said, angered Haywood. “He just throw the gasoline pon [Schwartz] and light the matches pon she and suh she trying to tek off she clothes,” he added.
He further stated that as the woman started to scream, the fire got bigger and he panicked and started screaming as well.
It was at this point, Schwartz stumbled off of the stairs and fell into the yard and Sonia Schwartz, her sister, triggered by the loud screams, went to her rescue.
They began to roll Samantha in the grass in order to put out the blaze.
By this time, Adams said that she had already arrived inside of the yard. She added that she then, along with the help of family members, took Samantha to her place across the street and began to undress her. “Me son been get burn in September, so I had the saline water left over. So I start to rub it pun she skin,” Adams explained.
The family then called the police and took Samantha to GPHC. Samantha is a mother of three minor children, ages 13, 10 and three. The three-year-old was close by when the attack occurred and she suffered minor burns to her scalp as a result.
Meanwhile, Haywood is reported to have calmly walked away from the yard after he lit is sister afire. Family members added that they have not seen him since the attack but they were told by persons in the neighbourhood that he was seen walking out of the Sophia access road with a haversack on his back.
They believe he was intoxicated at the time of the attack although they noted that he would normally get into arguments with associates. “Up until a year ago, he used to be in and out of jail because he always fighting people,” a member of the family said.
Meanwhile, Schwartz’s grandmother, Hagar James, was saddened by the attack. She was inside in the home doing minor chores when she heard her granddaughter’s terrifying screams. She walked outside and saw her granddaughter on fire. “That really hurt me. I didn’t know wha fuh do. All I see is fire and is she own brother do that,” James said.
The family members also said they wanted to dispel rumours suggesting that the argument between the two siblings came as a result of missing marijuana.
