Police are currently investigating whether the burning to death of Anita Baichan during a home invasion on Sunday is linked to a decision by the woman’s daughter to leave a former partner.
Six persons were held on Monday in connection with Baichan’s death and they remained in police custody and were being questioned up to late yesterday afternoon, Crime Chief Wendell Blanhum said.
Blanhum added that police ranks were conducting extensive searches in Berbice.
Stabroek News understands that the searches were based on information received by the police suggesting that robbery might not have been the motive for the attack on Baichan and her son, Moshim Khan, which was carried out early Sunday morning at Hope, West Coast Berbice.
This newspaper was told that the deceased’s daughter shared a relationship with one of the men but they eventually separated. It is being suggested that the attack might have been planned to enable the man to comfort the young woman in the aftermath of the ordeal and to rekindle a relationship with her.
Baichan, 49, was burned to death in her home early Sunday morning in a fire set by the two bandits who brutalised her and her son. Before escaping, the men bound and gagged the duo and set the house on fire. Khan was able to free himself but he was unable to save his mother.
In a statement, police had said that the men, who were masked and armed with cutlasses, entered the home and held up Baichan and Khan and they demanded cash and jewellery.
“The perpetrators were given $30,000 but kept demanding more valuables. Having not received anything further from the victims the men used duct tape to tie the hands, feet and mouth of the victims and set the house on fire before escaping,” it added.
“We beg and beg. We beg for them to stop but they continue to beat us and demand for more cash and jewellery and we seh we ain’t got none, we poor but they ain’t listen and they just continue beating us,” Khan had told this newspaper.
Khan said they gave the men some cash that was in the wardrobe but they demanded more. When the mother and son were unable to meet their demand, the bandits began to search and they would deal blows to the two for any money or jewellery they found.
After the men lit the house on fire, Khan rolled down a flight of stairs to the lower flat and it was there that he lost track of his mother. After he reached the bottom of the stairs, he added, he ran towards the corner of the wall and grazed his tied hands in a bid to remove the duct tape. After he was able to free his hands and feet, he said he rushed to the kitchen, where the fire had started, to throw away the gas bottle to prevent any explosion.
Khan, however, then realised he had not seen his mother downstairs with him. He said that after he noticed she had not followed, he rushed to the stairs only to be greeted with intense flames engulfing the staircase.
Khan was unable to run back up the stairs to try to rescue his mother and started screaming for help. All he could have done was stand outside, barred by the blazing fire, and listen as her screams slowly faded.
