A 44-year-old psychiatric patient reportedly burnt her house down around 7:30 am yesterday at Bath Settlement, West Coast Berbice and has been taken into police custody.
The woman has been left homeless along with her son, Hardat Narine, 23 and his wife, Lilawattie ‘Alicia’ Nandlall and their two children: Satesh and a one-month-old baby.
Nandlall said she was busy in the kitchen downstairs when she smelled smoke coming from the upper flat. She rushed
upstairs to investigate and saw the mattress in the front room on fire.
She immediately grabbed her children and ran out to safety. Her mother-in-law also ran out behind her from the upper flat.
By then, the entire house was engulfed and a large crowd gathered at the scene but could only look on helplessly as the building burned.
The fire tender from the Onverwagt Fire Station arrived at the scene and doused the burning building but the water was quickly exhausted.
It was joined shortly after by another tender from the Blairmont Estate which successfully sourced water from a nearby trench.
Fire-fighters from both entities teamed up to completely put out the fire. They were assisted by public-spirited residents.
When this newspaper arrived at the scene, a crowd was still there. The woman believed to have set the fire was sitting on a bench in the neighbour’s yard crying.
Her son, a cane-harvester later told Stabroek News that he only learnt of the fire as he was returning home from work around midday. “A friend reach me and tell me that the house burn down,” he said.
He said he would not only have to worry about getting back a house for his family but the furnishings as everything was destroyed. The family would welcome any help from kind-hearted persons to rebuild.
They also lost a small amount of cash and documents including identification cards and birth certificates.
Meanwhile, Hardat said he is disappointed that the police locked up his mother and are planning to charge her even though they were told of her mental state.
He feels that her actions can be blamed on the fact that she had run out of medication a few days ago.
According to him, his mother needs help, not harassment.
When his younger sister took food for her at the station later, the police inquired if she had brought money to bail her. The girl responded that she did not have any money.
