By Joseph Allen
The father of one of the girls who perished in the Mahdia Secondary School dormitory fire on Sunday is insisting that the lost lives “cannot go down for nothing” and that someone has to pay.
This statement was uttered by Roy Felix Williams, the father of 13-year-old, Bibi Rita Jeffrey, who had been attending Mahdia Secondary School for the past two years when she died.
Williams, who spoke with Stabroek News yesterday in Georgetown, said that 19 lives have been lost, and it “cannot go down just so” without anyone being held accountable since the fire was maliciously set.
“These are grieving times for me because that is my daughter and I love her bad and then again, I don’t know what could take place because I have so many things to say. I wanted to tell the President himself yesterday, but I did not get a chance to speak to him because I don’t want these 19 lives to go do down just like that and someone is responsible for this. I came with a mind to tell the President and everybody else responsible for this to arrest somebody for what has gone down and I say these lives cannot be gone for nothing because they said that this fire was maliciously set and was willfully set.”
On Sunday night, less than an hour before midnight, a fire broke out in the school dorm which was occupied by females and a five-year-old boy.
Jeffrey’s grieving father described her as a good child.
“She was a very good child; respectful to others, she don’t behave bad, rude or anything. She was a very kind child”, Williams added.
He said that her body and others could not have been identified in Mahdia, so they had to be flown to Georgetown for further testing. He added that his daughter remains one of those yet to be identified due to the burns sustained.
“So, far I have identify her but the only thing that confuse me is that I don’t know if she had earrings because it’s months I did not see her.”
Williams is also calling for some form of compensation for the death of these girls.
