Woman dies after setting home on fire -tried burning it twice before

Jul 23, 2019 News

A mother of four from Number 64 Village is now dead, after she set her home on fire yesterday around 16:30 hrs, leaving residents in the village in utter shock and dismay.

Sabita Sooknanan

The charred remains of Sabita ‘Tina’ Sooknanan of 158 Number 64 Village were found among the rubble by investigating ranks and firefighters. According to a neighbour, Mya Ragnauth, the woman was in the upper flat of the two-storey wooden building while her daughter was in the bottom flat when the fire started.

The remnants of the Sooknanan home at Number 64 Village

“She was upstairs in she house, and then she call out for us to tell she daughter to call she husband and tell him that she going and burn down the house. So we try calling for the daughter who was downstairs to check on she mother, but not long after we see smoke coming out from the building,” Ragnauth said.
Sooknanan had already set the house alight and in a matter of minutes the inferno consumed the building. Ragnauth said they immediately contacted the fire service who responded shortly after, and they also made contact with the woman’s husband, Jairam Sooknanan, a mason, who was at work when the incident took place.
An eyewitness who was at the scene disclosed that neighbours gathered and operated a bucket brigade until the fire service arrived, and by that time the woman’s husband came home. He attempted to save his wife, but the fire was too intense. She was burnt alive on the verandah of their home.
Kaieteur News understands that the woman was intoxicated when she set the home on fire. It was also revealed that the woman had tried twice before to burn her home. The building nearby was also scorched. Sabita Sooknanan leaves to mourn her four children and husband.
Investigations are ongoing.