An East Canje, Berbice businessman now has to take added security precautions after someone torched three of his vehicles which were parked at his premises on Tuesday evening.
The police have since taken into custody a suspect who lives in the same village.
Doodnauth Moses, also known as ‘Chenick’, 46, of Lot 1 Betsy Ground Village, East Canje, Berbice, will now have to repair the damage to his motor bus PPP 391, motorcar PSS 1113, and light truck GWW3612. The man yesterday told Stabroek News that his truck suffered the most damage as the entire front was torched.
According to the businessman, he closed his business around 7 pm and retired to bed. However, one of his sons was watching television and noticed on their surveillance monitor around 9.15 pm that the two vehicles parked in front of their business place were on fire. The son promptly alerted the entire family and they began scrambling for the keys to head outside.
Moses relayed that he used a fire extinguisher to put out the fires on the two vehicles. However, at that stage, his truck which was parked at the side of the building in a cross street located next to the business, had already been seriously damaged by fire.
It would appear that the arsonist set the truck on fire first before heading to the front of the premises to torch the other vehicles which were parked there.
In CCTV footage viewed by this newspaper, the suspect was seen throwing a liquid substance – presumably an accelerant – on the vehicle after which he struck a match, threw it on the vehicle and ran away from the scene.
The Guyana Police Force in a statement yesterday noted that after discovering the fire, Moses “armed himself with his licensed firearms and ventured to the front of his yard where he discharged four rounds from his shotgun and four from his .32 pistol.”
As of yesterday afternoon police were continuing their investigation in hopes of nabbing the suspect.
In December, 2019, Moses was robbed by six armed bandits who assaulted both him and his wife during the attack. The bandits had escaped with one of Moses’ cars which was later recovered, while a customer was grazed by a bullet discharged by one of the bandits during the attack.
The businessman yesterday said that following that robbery, he had put systems in place to protect himself and family in the event bandits attempted to pounce on them again. However, he admitted that he was never prepared for an arson attack, noting that he might now have to consider extending his bond to park his vehicles inside.
When interviewed by Stabroek News, he said he did not suspect anyone but was hopeful that the police would nab the suspect and thoroughly question him “so we can know if he come to burn down the place or he start the fire to try to get us out the building or what… But I hope they catch him and he talk.”
Moses operates a grocery store, Chenick and Sons Supermarket, at the location, which also has Superbet, Western Union and Bill Express outlets. He has been in business for over nine years now. He is also well known in his community and his customers have also spoken highly about the way in which he treats them.
At the beginning of the pandemic, Moses had sourced hand sanitisers and sold them at cost to the residents of East Canje, Berbice, while other stores in the area had immediately increased the prices of such items.
