The Guyana Police Force (GPF) last evening said that it will be seeking legal advice from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in relation to the deadly Mahdia Secondary School dormitory fire, which was maliciously set, GPF’s Corporate Communications Unit Director, Mark Ramotar, said in a statement. He added that the file will be sent to the DPP’s office today.
“Police investigations so far… reveal that a female student is suspected of having set the devastating fire because her cellular phone was taken away by the dorm mother and a teacher,” Ramotar said in the statement issued.
Meanwhile, he stated that autopsies were conducted on the bodies of Nicholeen Robinson, Natalie Bellarmine, Eulanda Carter, Subrina John, Martha D’ Andrade, and Adonijah Jerome, at the Mahdia District Hospital mortuary and the cause of death was given as smoke inhalation and burns. The others who perished in the fire have been identified as Mary D’Andrade, Bibi Rita Jeffrey, Loreen Evans, Belnisa Evans, Omefia Edwin, Andrea Roberts, Lorita Williams, Sherena Daniels, Lisa Roberts, Cleoma Simon Tracil Thomas, and sisters Delecia Edwards and Arianna Edwards.
During the investigation, he said several of the students were interviewed in the presence of a Probation Officer, and statements were taken. The scene is presently secured and guarded by ranks of the GPF.
At the time of the fire, which started at approximately 10.50 pm, 56 female students were in the dormitory.
Acting Fire Chief Dwayne Scotland had said at around 11.15 pm on Sunday, firefighters from the Mahdia Fire Station were summoned to the scene but the four-minute drive found the building completely engulfed in flames. Scotland subsequently told the Department of Public Information (DPI), that the fire was lit in the southwestern end of the building.
“Immediately, firefighting and rescue operations were initiated. These operations would have rescued not less than 20 students. The operation continued for approximately three and a half hours after which, the fire was brought under control and subsequently extinguished,” DPI quoted him as saying.
