Woman, four others escape death after husband sets home ablaze and kills self

Oct 17, 2018 News

-his intention was to burn them alive

A mother of three girls and her mother are counting their lucky stars after the home she shared with her husband was set on fire by the man. This followed a domestic dispute.
Michael Lewis, 34 a Labourer of Brighton Village, Corentyne, Berbice, is now dead after he set the home on fire. His intention was to burn his wife and children in the home but they managed to escape.
His body was later found on a dirt dam in the village with a syringe near his corpse along with three cell phones and an identification card.

Candacie Khedaroo and her three daughters

Khedaroo’s mother displaying a bruised neck from the choke

Candacie Khedaroo, 28 , the surviving wife, told Kaieteur News that she left home with her three children Monday morning to attend her nephew’s birthday celebration in Georgetown and returned home at approximately 15:30 hrs later that day.
“When I come home, just as I put down my bag he came to me with a hammer in his hand and told me that he heard that I went to the airport. So I asked him who told him that. Then he scramble me and I beg he not to do me anything but to just tell me who told him that.
“But then he start choke me and so and dem children start to holler. I manage fuh escape and I pick up me small daughter and run away to me neighbour dem,” she recounted.
Khedaroo said she had had enough at that point and made the decision to leave Lewis. According to her, she ventured to her mother’s residence at Tarlogie with her youngest and told her mom that she couldn’t take it anymore and that she wanted to end the marriage.

What remains of the home Lewis and Khedaroo shared.

“I asked my mom to go with me back to the house to collect dem children school clothes and some clothes fuh me wear. My mother went with me. When we reach he went up in the house. My mother tried to talk to him in a simple way but then suddenly he move and go to the fireside; it had a lil bottle with gas inside and he tek that.
“My mother push me and dem children behind she and he spray up the gas on all of we.” She disclosed that she immediately took the children and ran out the house. It was while she was on her way out of the street that she realised her mother was left behind with her husband in the house.
Khedaroo’s mother stated that when her daughter ran out with the children, she and Lewis had a scuffle which resulted in him choking her. She eventually escaped and at that point she heard her daughter calling out for her.
“When me ketch myself that my mother was not with me I run back. When I run back and I call on she plenty time and she eventually answer me.
“Both of we run out back and was while we coming out on the road we see he running down the road without a shirt and he some kinda weapon in he hand,” the now widowed wife detailed.
The mother of three explained that they remained in a neighbour’s yard when they saw him run back to the house and set the house on fire some time around 18:30 hrs. He subsequently escaped and they left for her mother’s place to spend the night.
The man was reportedly not satisfied since he ventured into her mother’s yard and also attempted to burn the place down. The fire he set only destroyed some containers. “Fortunately,” Khedaroo’s mother said.
Candacie Khedaroo revealed to this publication that she has been married to Lewis for five years. She began experiencing abuse at the man’s hands three years into the marriage.
She stated that he was being unfaithful to her and constantly accused her of things she said she had no knowledge about. The emotional abuse then led to physical abuse, she said, but despite the stressful atmosphere she remained in the relationship for the sake of her children.
It was difficult to make a decision to leave, she said, since she had no job and no-one was financially capable of taking care of her and the children but yesterday’s scenario was the last straw, she added. According to her, three weeks ago Lewis attempted to kill her and the children.
He had brought home a syringe filled with gasoline.
She said she talked him into handing over the syringe to her after she told him that she will inject herself with it. She however, managed to calm him down and she threw away the syringe. He wanted to inject the three girls, himself and Khedaroo with the substance.
The distraught woman added that it was an eye-opener for her but she still could not muster the courage to leave until yesterday. It would be the last time he put his hands on her and the last time he was seen alive.
Khedaroo said she will stay at her mother’s house and will be seeking a job to keep her family afloat financially.
Persons desirous of assisting the mother of three can do so on contact numbers 687-1351 or 625-6533.