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Man burns own house down
– tells common-law wife “me help you build this house and I will burn it down”
Kaieteur News – A 34-year-old woman, Radha Ramanah is now forced to sleep at her workplace after her common-law-husband on Thursday last allegedly burnt their home down at Farm, East Bank Demerara (EBD).
The man accused of burning his own home
“We were arguing and he said ‘me help you build this house and I will burn it down, you can build it back by yourself if yuh want’,” Ramanah told Kaieteur News as she recalled hurrying to take their seven-year-old daughter out of the building as her intoxicated husband used a lighter to ignite the gasoline-soaked floor.
Kaieteur News has since been able to confirm the act of arson, which occurred around 19:30hrs on Thursday last, with East Bank Police Commander, Denise Griffith. The suspect has been identified as Barrington Leung, 29, who is still at large. It is possible, according to sources, that he could be hiding at a location on the East Bank of Demerara.
As police continue their investigation, Ramanah and her daughter are homeless and she is clueless about her next move. She has, however, sent her daughter to live with her mother as she takes up residence in a space at her place of work.
The aftermath of the fire
“I am sleeping here at my workplace and now thinking how to start over, where to start from, where to begin,” the woman said.
Ramanah is also fearful to move around because she had spotted the suspect near her workplace recently and believes that he might try to attack her.
“I hope the police can catch him quickly so I can get to move around freely because I have seen he checking out my workplace here the other day,” she highlighted.
The woman said that her husband has never been violent towards her but had a drinking problem and when drunk, they would argue a lot. She said that she is even surprised at his action on Thursday. She said that she is still trying to figure out what might have led him to burn their house down.
“I came home from work around 7:30 (PM) and he was cursing up. My daughter told me ‘mammy daddy drink and he throw gasoline in the house’,” recounted Ramanah.
At first, continued the woman, “I thought it was a joke and I began arguing with him but when I see he reach for a lighter, then I realised it was serious.”
The woman rushed quickly to get her daughter out of the house and as soon they were outside safely, the suspect lit it on fire.
She recounted that as it went up in flames, she tried calling the police station but she could not get through.
“I was afraid to leave because he was there,” she recalled but when the man left, Ramanah and her daughter ran to the main road and caught a taxi. They headed straight for the Providence Police Station and lodged a report. The ranks who attended to her called the Guyana Fire Service (GFS) but someone had already informed firefighters that her home was on fire and fire trucks had arrived at the scene.
Now reflecting on the disaster, Ramanah believes that her husband might have been influenced by his relatives to commit such an act.
“We built that house and moved in five years ago,” Ramanah related. She added that his brothers had visited on one occasion and reportedly commented, “My brother work hard and build a nice house.”
Ramanah claimed that she had made it clear to the man that it was a joint effort and she played her part too. She does not know if her remarks might have offended her husband but since then, according to her, “every time he gets drunk, he would curse up and repeatedly say ‘I build this house’.”
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