An early morning fire, reportedly set by a jilted lover hours after his plea for reconciliation was rejected, claimed the life of an elderly man and injured a woman and her boyfriend.
Dead is 68-year-old Clifford Sampson of Lot 6036 ‘C’ Field, Sophia. Injured is Sampson’s stepdaughter Towobola Abrams, 38, also of lot 6036 ‘C’ Field Sophia and her visiting boyfriend Shawn White, who are patients of the Georgetown Public Hospital’s (GPH) Burns Care Unit, where they are listed as critical.
According to Abrams’s sister Candacey Buelow, at around 11.30 pm on January 2, she heard dogs barking in the yard for about two minutes, then they stopped. She said when she made a check, no one was there. However, Buelow said, 15 minutes later, “I hear a boom!” she said. She opened the door to her apartment which is on the western side of the yard, only to see the bottom flat of the two-storey building surrounded by huge flames.
Buelow said that she immediately called out to the sleeping occupants of the building to get out. “My mother start throwing out the two children through the window,” of the upper flat, Buelow said, “then she jump out.” Sampson, who she said had a bad knee, took a while to jump from the burning building and as a result sustained burns.
Moreover, the distraught woman said, Abrams, who resided in the lower flat, also handed her two children to relatives through a window, before she and White jumped through thick fire which burnt off most of their clothing.
While the children and Abrams’s elderly mother were spared, Abrams, Sampson and White were all badly burnt about their bodies, relatives told Stabroek News. Sampson sustained burns, “from head to toe,” Buelow said, and was taken to the GPH’s Accident and Emergency Unit, where he succumbed to his injuries.
She said Abrams, who was severely burnt on the right side, was also taken to the Accident and Emergency Unit before being transferred to the Burns Care Unit with White.
Additionally, Buelow said that the alleged arsonist had threatened to set the house on fire a couple months back, when Abrams ended the five-year relationship they shared. “He always use to say that he will burn down the house,” Buelow said. The angry woman added that earlier in the night of January 2, Abrams had informed her that the man had visited the home and begged her to go with him. However, she said Abrams did not go with the man, for fear he might kill her. Following the rejection, Buelow said, he became enraged and renewed his threat to burn the house down. She added that a neighbour told the family that the man was seen in the yard around 11 pm with a bottle in his hand.
Police are investigating the matter and are currently looking for the man.
Abrams’s brother Sheldon Buelow added that the man was always abusive to his sister. Six months ago, Buelow said, his sister finally heeded the family’s warning to let the man go. “He use to curse and say he got wood on the house,” a neighbour shouted, adding, “He wicked for what he do.”
Candacey Buelow said that everything the family owns has gone up in flames, save for a little apartment in the yard. The loss is estimated at close to $5 million. The Fire Service is currently investigating the origin of the fire.
Anyone who wishes to assist the family can make contact on 685-3874.
