Rice farming couple burnt to death in home

Apr 19, 2016 News

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-cops probe possible murder
Police were up to last night questioning several people in connection with the death of an elderly rice farming couple, who were burned alive in a fire that may have been deliberately set by intruders in their Good Hope, East Bank

Berbice home.
The charred remains of Mohamed Munir, 75, and his wife Bibi Jamila Munir, 69, were retrieved from the debris of the two-storey property after the fire was finally extinguished.
Reports indicate that the victims were trapped in their heavily-grilled home. The blaze reportedly started in the upper flat Eyewitnesses said that the entire flat was engulfed with minutes.
Residents, and a passing family who were among the first on the scene, could only stand by helplessly, listening to the elderly couple’s screams, which eventually ceased as they were overcome by the flames.
While some residents said that they had heard gunshots, post mortem performed on the victims showed that they had died from severe burns.
Investigators from the Force’s Major Crimes Unit, along with ranks from the Leonora Police Station have taken statements from a close family friend who alleged that the wife, Bibi Munir, had telephoned him on Sunday night to say that bandits were in the house.
Neighbours also claimed to have heard the elderly couple’s frantic screams of “Bandits”, before the property was engulfed in flames.
At least one resident also said that she saw two people on the verandah, even as the couple shouted to neighbours for assistance.
Shamiza Khosial told Kaieteur News that she was up at around 23.00 hrs, when her son told her that there were people fighting at the Munir’s residence.

On peeping outside, Mrs. Khosial said that she saw two people on the couple’s verandah. She also heard the Munirs screaming for help.
“The place was dark and I see two persons on the verandah and then I started to hear they (the couple) shouting that bandits were in the house,” Khosial said.
The woman said that she also heard Mrs. Munir apparently calling their family friend, businessman, Shiraz Ali, to tell him that bandits were on the property.
Khosial said that shortly after, she saw “a ball of fire” in the living room area and within minutes the entire property was engulfed in flames. The woman said that the victims were trapped in their bedroom, since the window, like other areas in the house, had grill-work.
“If that grill on the room window had come out then they could have been saved. They couldn’t have exited the building any other way because for them to get out of the room, they would have had to go into the hall, but the hall was on fire.”
Shiraz Ali said that Bibi Jamila Munir had contacted him by phone to say that bandits were in the house, while pleading with him to help.
Ali said he arrived in about seven minutes, but by then the entire property was in flames. There was nothing he could have done but to stand on the road and look at the blaze as it destroyed the house with the elderly couple trapped inside.
Among those first on the scene was a family that was heading to Parika, East Bank Essequibo by bus on Sunday night. One family member recalled that they were passing Good Hope when they saw flamed emanating from the upper flat of a house.
“We started blowing the (vehicle’s) horn, but nobody looked out. We start shouting ‘fire, fire,’ and knocked on the gate, and finally, the next door neighbor looked out and two other people came to us.”
He also recalled that the Munir’s front gate was not bolted, and two young men climbed over the gate.
Seeing that the flames were spreading to the neighbour’s house, the man and others helped the family to remove their valuables from the property.
“I asked them if anyone was at home in the other (Munir’s) house. “
Another young man from the family said that he entered the  Munir’s yard and it was then that he heard someone screaming in the top flat.
Kaieteur News was told that Mr. Munir, who was in his bedroom, flung some keys through the bedroom window and told them to drive one of the tractors out of the yard.
After a neighbor had removed the tractor, Mr. Munir began shouting for the neighbours to use a second tractor to pull down the grill from the bedroom window.
The young man said that he suggested that they hitch a length of chain to the tractor and to the grill, but by then the flames had begun to engulf the entire upper flat and the heat was immense.
“Then he (Mr. Munir) say that his wife not breathing anymore, and after awhile he (too) stopped talking.”
The family members recalled seeing a resident in the area with a shotgun, but said that they saw no one else on the property. They said that they only later heard residents saying that bandits had invaded the victims’ house.
Up to yesterday, some of those who had tried to rescue the couple remained tramautised. “I keep hearing the guy hollering,” one woman who was with the group said.
One of the couple’s next door neighbours said that a little before 23:00 hrs Sunday night, her husband got up to use the washroom and heard noises over at the Munir’s residence.
“From the talking, we started hearing like bottles falling…but then we get a call that bandits were over in the house,” the woman said.
Shortly after, she noticed “a bright light” at her bedroom window. This was followed by a loud explosion.
“When we realize it was a fire, I tell my husband to get our passport and some documents. While we hurrying to come out the house, we heard gunshots but we don’t know if it was the bandits firing or neighbours trying to scare the bandits away,” the woman said.
She also heard an explosion, and within minutes, the two-storey property was engulfed.
And a male relative of the couple recalled receiving a call from someone who said that the Munir’s house was on fire and that bandits were inside.
The man said that he immediately rushed to the scene but there was nothing he would have done to help.
“How this house is situate, it has three rooms and all the rooms are connected by an inside door. The middle room has a trap door which leads straight to the downstairs. Their bodies were found in the back room, so this means that they couldn’t get to the middle room,” the man said.
He suggested that the bandits had already gained access to the middle room, and this prevented the victims from reaching the trap door.
Some of the couple’s children arrived from overseas yesterday.

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