Twenty-year-old Zullina Callender, who survived a brutal attack on Monday, that left her boyfriend dead and her daughter and sister also injured, said she only managed to escape with her life because persons pulled her out of her burning 201 Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara home.
The mother of two, whose badly bruised and swollen face, bandaged head and burned hands and feet revealed the magnitude of her ordeal, told Stabroek News yesterday that she was grateful to the persons who rescued her. She assumed they were neighbours, but was unsure of who exactly they were.
Callender, who lost everything but the clothes on her back in the fire, said it was two intruders who carried out the assault, one of whom is the father of one of her children.
Callender is recuperating at the home of a relative. She was released from the hospital on Tuesday, but still needs to return for treatment and is unable to walk unaided owing to the burns on her feet.
Recounting the horrific incident, the young woman, who appeared to be in severe pain, told Stabroek News that all had been
well when she, her boyfriend Jason Munroe, her sister Shontel Callender, 15, and her three-year-old daughter Princess Babb retired to bed around 21:00 hrs on Sunday.
Callender recalled that the house had been secured.
She said she was awakened suddenly by her sister, who appeared distressed and whose hands were bound.
Callender said her sister told her that she had been tied up and assaulted by ‘Smiley’ and as she untied her hands she became aware that there were loud noises in the home.
Callender said she noted that Munroe was no longer in the bedroom and when she ventured out, she saw him in the dining room area engaged in a scuffle with a man.
Callender said she rushed to intervene and was also attacked and beaten about the face. When she managed to retreat, the young woman said, she ran to the front door in a bid to escape, but realized that it had been barred by the intruders.
Callender said it was at this point that Munroe was struck twice in the head with a piece of wood and he collapsed unconscious. She was then also dealt at least one blow to her head and she passed out.
She could not say how the fire was started but knew that up to when she was knocked out the home was not on fire. When she came to, she said, persons were lifting her away from the building which was engulfed in flames. She said she asked about Munroe, and was told that he had not been rescued before the fire became uncontrollable.
Callender said that her sister Shontel, a student of Ascension Secondary School, West Ruimveldt, was the one who rescued her (Zullina’s) three-year-old daughter Princess from the burning building. Shontel, who was badly burnt, is currently a patient in the Burn Care Unit of the Georgetown Public Hospital. Princess is also still hospitalized.
Callender said that fortunately, her one-year-old daughter Natisha Callender was at a relative’s home and escaped the entire ordeal.
Asked about the losses she and her family suffered as a result of the fire, Callender said she could not give an exact amount, but noted that they were unable to save anything. The two-bedroom house was not complete, she said and they had only been living there for about eight months now. But their losses include a refrigerator, two beds, a dining set, a chair set, clothing and other items. The family is in desperate need. Members of the public who are willing to make any contribution towards the victims of the fire can make contact with Callender’s mother Amanda Daniels on telephone number 681-7613.
Meanwhile, relatives of Munroe are upset that his remains have not yet been released for burial.
Wendella Austin, the dead man’s sister, who spoke with Stabroek News via telephone, said she was alarmed at the pace of the investigation. She said they were told that they could not have the body as yet, since more samples needed to be taken to have a forensic test done.
She also claimed that the police were perhaps not as thorough as they could have been since two of her cousins had been to the burnt-out site and found that they suspected to be her brother’s.
Austin said the result of the post-mortem examination performed on her brother’s body yesterday was inconclusive. However, she said that though he was battered in the head, she believes he did not die of his injuries but perished in the fire.
It was about 01:00 hrs on Monday that neighbors heard what sounded like fighting followed by screams coming from the 201 Parfait Harmonie house. Soon afterwards they saw the house engulfed in flames and persons were seen running from the building.
