Latest update January 20th, 2025 4:00 AM
Sophia tragedy… Suspect surrenders, admitted to GPHC
Tabola Abrams
The fear of dying from burns he sustained about his body after setting his estranged partner’s home on fire that killed the woman’s stepfather and injured several others, reportedly led Sophia suspect, Gavin Harris, to surrender.
Harris disappeared after setting fire to his ex-partner, Tabola Abrams’s Lot 636 ‘C’ Field, Sophia home.
The house was completely destroyed in the fire which started around 12:15 hrs on Saturday.
The woman’s step-father, 66-year-old Clifford Sampson died as a result of burns sustained while she and her paramour, Shawn Whyte, remain patients at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) nursing burns about their bodies. The other seven occupants of the now destroyed house managed to escape with minor injuries.
Accompanied by a police rank and relatives around 11:00 hrs yesterday, Harris was rushed to the GPHC.
He sustained burns to both his arms, his abdomen and to his feet.
Harris reportedly told police detectives that when he lit the house on fire, the flames “back fire” on him.
This publication was told that the suspect and his mother went to the Wismar Police Station, Linden, early yesterday after which they were accompanied by police ranks to the GPHC.
The suspect’s relatives refused to talk to the media.
Police sources however said that Harris’ wounds are quite painful and they are of the opinion that his mother turned him in only because he needed urgent medical attention.
Up to press time, the suspect was a patient in the hospital’s Accident and Emergency Unit.
This newspaper understands that he would later be transferred to the Burns Care Unit, where his ex-partner and her paramour are patients.
Tabola lived in the lower flat of the house with her three children, while her mother, Anita Buelow, her stepfather, Clifford Sampson and other relatives lived upstairs.
Some persons were reportedly forced to jump from the burning two-storey house. Sampson was one of them. However, he was severely burnt and later succumbed to his injuries.
Kaieteur News understands that the occupants of the home were asleep when the fire started.
The fire was started by Abrams’ jilted lover, Gavin Harris.
He reportedly doused the house and its environs with gasoline and set it ablaze before fleeing the scene.
Abrams said that she had shared a turbulent seven-year relationship with her ex-lover but ended it a few months ago.
“We de living together but we had plenty trouble. I had to call in de welfare and he had to move out. He does wuk in bush but he de come out and come to me work place begging for another chance. I tell he that I get somebody better, that does treat me good. He (Gavin) refuse to accept. He say that he will give me something I would never forget,” she explained.
She recalled that Gavin returned to the house early Saturday and began knocking on the door to her apartment, demanding entry.
But she refused to let him in. “That is when he burn down the house,” the woman had told this newspaper.
A police rank will be guarding the suspect while he is in hospital.
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