An eight-month-old baby died and 10 persons lost their home yesterday in an early morning fire, believed to be an act of arson, at Kaneville Housing Scheme, East Bank Demerara.
The fire, which claimed the life of Romain Seth, destroyed the three-bedroom house belonging to dredge owner Michelle Menezes, who said her family had previously been threatened by a villager who she believes is behind the tragedy.
Police have since arrested a woman, who is currently being questioned.
The fire started sometime between 2 and 2.30 am. Menezes, the child’s grandmother, told Stabroek News that around 2 in the morning she heard dogs barking. “… They running from the front to the back of the house… I get up and went to check but I ain’t see anything. When I turn around to go back into the bedroom, all I hear is boof and see a big ball a flame on the bed with the baby,” Menezes recounted while fighting back tears.
She added that when she ran to the front room to save the baby, she heard “boof boof in the middle room and the back room” and sounded an alarm to wake up her four children and a nephew who were sleeping in the other rooms.
Menezes said her nephew, who also lives at the house with his common-law wife, helped her to get her four other children out of the house.
“I start holler and pull up the netting from the bed where the others were sleeping and my nephew help he wake up the others and open the back door,” she said, while explaining that the nephew had to remove objects that they had used to block the door after the threats.
“By the time now the children come out of the house and I try to pull out the baby but he deh already burn up. Meh next nephew even try but the baby di done bun… Ah still can’t get over that meh grandson died. I deh just feed him and put he back to sleep… It is hard to overcome this… He was like meh own son,” she said with tears rushing down her face.
According to Menezes, she made attempts to save her grandson but it was too late as the fire had already engulfed the majority of the room. The fire, she explained, quickly spread throughout the house and within minutes reduced it to debris.
Nephews of Menezes who reside next door immediately responded to the fire and formed a bucket brigade to put it out. A relative said it was almost out when the fire service arrived.
Menezes’ daughter, Holly Seth, the child’s mother, was not at the house at the time of the fire.
She said she had gone into the city to get help from her friends to purchase milk for the baby and soap powder to wash the baby’s clothing. She added she later received a phone call which summoned her home. When she arrived, she was given the tragic news. “I come and see people in front of the yard and I ask what happen and they said ‘Holly, yuh baby dead.’ I didn’t even look at the house,” she said. “This is my first child… I want justice. This can’t go easy because they murder my son,” she added.
Menezes’ family believes the fire was a result of an arson after the discovery of a pair of slippers as well as paper and cardboard in a nearby alley in the aftermath of the fire. The area also smelt of gas. “It look as if that is where they make the gas lamp to throw it in the house through the windows,” she alleged.
The woman told Stabroek News that a few weeks ago one of her sons stumbled on a gun while playing in the yard. She said the person who she suspects orchestrated the burning of her home informed her that her “family them gone deh in problem if yuh go to the police.” The woman added that she dismissed the threat. However, she noted that one of her sons was subsequently stabbed by a member of a gang affiliated with the person who made the threat. She then went to the police.
Menezes said that she lived in the house for 21 years. “The money I had to build the house, I tek it and invest in a dredge so I could a build a house to how we want it so it can be comfortable for all of us but now everything gone,” she said in grief.
She added that while she willing to accept any assistance from the public, she is fearful for her life and the lives of her family and as a result she does not “want to go back there and live.”
Persons willing to help Menezes to get back on her feet can contact her on 681-4882 or 670-8476.
