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Jilted lover torches house, one dead, three injured
By Romila Boodram
Police are investigating the death of a 27-year-old man who was allegedly beaten and burnt to death in his girlfriend’s house.
The killing occurred at Lot 201 La Parfaite Harmonie, West Bank Demerara (WBD) around 01:30 hrs yesterday.
Dead is Jason Monroe of Lot 308 La Parfaite Harmonie, WBD.
Injured: Shantel Callender and Zulina Callender
His charred body was removed by undertakers around 07:00 hrs yesterday and taken to the Ezekiel Parlour.
Monroe’s girlfriend, Zulina Callender, 20; her three-year-old daughter, Princess Babb; and her 15-year-old sister, Shantel Callender, were also burnt about their bodies.
They are patients in the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC)’s Burns Care Unit.
Reports are that the younger Callender’s ex-lover, who is in police custody, entered the house through a window and wounded Monroe and his girlfriend before setting the house on fire.
It is unclear whether the 15-year-old was beaten.
According to the Callender’s mother, May Daniels, her smaller daughter was dating the 30-year-old suspect for some time but ended the relationship because he assaulted her on many occasions.
Daniels related that last Wednesday, the suspect saw her 15-year-old daughter on the road and punched her in her face and then threatened to kill her.
The matter was reported at the La Grange Police Station and the Ministry of Human Services.
“I does work in the nights and after he (suspect) threatened my daughter, her sister does ask her guy (Jason) to stay with them in the nights because they were scared,” the mother of five said.
She added that she was at work when she received the tragic news and immediately went to the hospital to meet her daughters and granddaughter.
The mother said that she does not know what transpired early yesterday but is waiting to question her daughters.
Meanwhile, a police official close to the investigation said that a few hours after the incident was reported, they received information that the suspect was at the Vreed-en Hoop Stelling, West Coast Demerara.
“We went there and we arrested him. It looked like he was sleeping when we went,” the source said.
He further added that the suspect, when questioned, confessed to beating Monroe and setting the house on fire.
“He said that around 19:00 hrs (Sunday) he went to (his ex-girlfriend’s house) and then he left and he went by a nearby shop where he was consuming alcohol,” the police source said.
According to the source, the suspect claimed that he later went back to the house and entered through a back window.
“He said that he and Monroe got into a fight and the kerosene stove fell and its content spilled all over. During that, he said, that he hit Monroe in his head twice with a piece of wood and he then lit a jersey and threw it where the kerosene fell and alerted the girls to leave. He then escaped,” the police official said.
At the scene yesterday, a neighbour, Latchmie Wahab, said that she was sleeping when she felt the heat and saw a bright light when she looked out her window.
“I went outside but the injured persons were already taken to the hospital. They moved there only a few months ago so we don’t really talk,” the neighbour related.
She claimed that she heard no screams.
At the home of Jason Monroe yesterday, his mother, Cherrol Morris was devastated.
She said that her son only “picked up” the older Callender a few weeks ago. She claimed that she warned him many times and pleaded with him to end “things” with the female.
“I heard a lot of things about her and I told him, but he doesn’t listen. Last night (Sunday night) he left and he said that he would come home a little late. Then around 9’ o clock (21:00 hrs on Sunday) he called and said he wouldn’t come home,” Morris recalled.
Fighting to hold back tears, she said that she left home and went to work yesterday and her sister called and informed her about what had transpired.
“I left work and I went to the scene and I see the girl my son was seeing and she tell me that he get burn up and I asked her if she couldn’t pull my son out and she didn’t answer,” the mother of two said.
Up to press time police were still waiting to interview the victims.
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