Fishermen dead after set ablaze by co-worker

Sep 12, 2011 News

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By Leon Suseran

Two Corentyne fishermen have died from extensive burns they sustained after being allegedly doused with gasoline and set alight by a berserk co-worker in the Corentyne River last Tuesday night.
Reports are that Beeram Motee Lall, 45, of Bloomfield Village, Corentyne and Reynard Fernandes, 15, of Reef Section, Rose Hall Town, were fishing at around 21:00 hrs, when another fisherman, known as “Kalla”, threw gasoline on Lall and Fernandes before setting them alight.
He fled the scene but was later arrested.
Motee Lall and Fernandes suffered severe burns and were both admitted to the New Amsterdam Hospital. Lall, who was in a critical condition, was  transferred to the Georgetown Hospital where he died on Friday. Fernandes subsequently succumbed to his injuries on Sunday around 02:00 hrs while being transferred to the GPHC.
While it is still unclear what triggered the brutal attack, reports indicate that the suspect is mentally unstable.
When Kaieteur News visited the home of Motee Lall, his family was holding a wake. His sister, Lilawattie Motee Lall, said that her brother left as usual to go fishing with his two other partners. “Them go out go wuk, and them throw the seine and then dey sleep. Them sleeping and “Kalla” wake he [Motee Lall], so me brother told him that the place was early”, she related. After a while, “Kalla” allegedly threw some water on the men to wake them.
He then allegedly soaked Lall and Fernandes with petrol before using a lighter to set them ablaze.
With their clothes on fire, the two fishermen reportedly jumped overboard but then re-entered the vessel, which was burning and tried to extinguish the flames.
She said that although her brother was badly burnt, he drove the boat out and contacted relatives on his mobile phone. The injured men were then taken to the hospital.
She added that her brother had been a fisherman for a number of years and that this is the first time any such incident occurred. “He was a good person, yes, he na fight with nobody”, she posited.

His wife, Shivana, was distraught and said that she wants justice. “My husband is not a bad person…only when he drink. Otherwise, he is very good and he don’t make problems with anybody, so me think this is murder because you cant just take gas and throw it on somebody like that.
Motee Lall leaves to mourn his wife, Shivana and four children, Karran 14, Keeshan 12, Tasha 11, and Arvin, aged nine.
Renyaldo Fernandes had dropped out of school recently to assist his parents financially.
His mother, Indrawattie “Bobby” Sookdeo, said she received the news of her son’s death, after returning home from selling poultry in the market on Sunday. Sookdeo was of the assumption that her son had been helping his aunt that day, since that was what the lad had told her.
She added that last Tuesday evening she received a call after 23:00 hrs from “Anup”, the owner of the boat, who revealed that her son was badly burnt. Upon inquiring, she learnt that the owner had wanted another workman so he had called Fernandes to work that day. “So I asked ‘how can you send to call my son without my permission to go to work?’. He said he was short of one workman so he sent and called my son because my son went with them for the last three weeks”, she said while bursting into tears.
Fernandes He was burnt on his feet, arms, back, and stomach, while his face was scorched.
She recalled laying eyes on the boy when she saw him at the New Amsterdam Hospital shortly after the telephone call. “My son call me and said ‘Mommy, I burn so much.’ Sookdeo is related to the Motee Lall family as well, and the two families had to share grief with each other. “My son is too young to die, he is 15 years. He just dropped out from school because he said his mother and father is so poor that he will go find a work”, she noted.
She said she does not know the suspect, but Sookdeo alleged that the owner of the boat did not contact her to express his condolences.
“The boss man (Anup) don’t even want to come and give some sympathies. I want justice! They don’t even want to come. They do like they don’t know me and they don’t even know my son.”  She said that she is struggling to find financial resources to bury her son.

Fernandes leaves to mourn one sister and three brothers as well as his father, Ricardo “Ricky” Fernandes. One of his aunts, Shelleza Sookdeo, said she was surprised that he died since his injuries appeared to be minimal.
“And I see the kid was healthy and strong. How come this kid had to go down so fast in two days? Why? Why didn’t they send this child down at the same time with the other person [Motee Lall] to Georgetown Hospital?” she asked.
“It’s so sad, it hurt to know that this is what happened and nobody knows what happened”, she said.
She also questioned the mental state of the suspect. “You go send a mad man with sensible people at sea when there is no esc ape route if people attack you. But in this country you have no laws and no rules. They killed my nephew.”
Police are continuing their investigations into the incident.

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