– landlord estimates losses at over $3M
An East Canje Berbice man is now in police custody after setting fire to the rented house he and his wife were occupying at Lot 35 Reliance Abondon, East Canje on Tuesday night.
Reports are that the man, Vickey and the woman Navini were sharing a relationship for quite some years and had been renting the house which belongs to an overseas based Guyanese family for about two years and more.
According to a neighbour, the couple separated a few months back but were still seeing each other. However, on Tuesday morning the couple had an argument and they both left the house.
On Tuesday night the man came back to the house but was locked outside as his partner had left with the keys. As a result, he picked up a cutlass and broke the lock on the door where he entered the house and began tumbling everything inside the house and cursing the residents in the neighbourhood, threatening to kill everyone.
An eyewitness, said she saw the man on the veranda with the cutlass and he was threatening to chop anyone who tried to get him out of the house.
Following the argument earlier Tuesday, the woman Navini decided to return to the house Tuesday night but arrived with two police officers since she was threatened earlier in the day.
The officers tried to get the man out of the house but was unsuccessful in doing so as he had locked the doors. He then began threatening the police and the woman again, indicating to the police that they cannot get him out of the house unless they bring the entire police squad.
“All them neighbours come out on the street and watching him carry on. He take a glass thing and throw it at the police and was cursing loud loud. Then he telling them police that they need a whole dead squad to take him out the house.”
A woman who has been taking care of the house, Rita Bridgemohan said, she estimated the losses to be over $3 million as she recently renovated the lower flat of the house.
“We did the place lately, we paint and repair and did a lot of things. We break down the wall on the side and rebuild it then we paint it back, we concrete the bottom house and whole front yard,” the woman stated.
Bridgemohan said, last July marked two years since the couple was renting the house but since then she did not renew their contract because they were expected to move.
The woman said she believes the house could have been saved if the man did not have the cutlass in his presence.
“People were willing to go in the house and bring him out but he keep on saying he will kill everybody and chop them up.”
Vickey, after threatening to kill everyone while standing on the veranda, walked back into the house where he picked up a sheet of paper and a lighter and came back on the veranda.
He then lit the paper and placed it inside the house, came back on the veranda and began shouting Fire! Fire! as he was dancing before walking out of the blazing house.
Neighbours told this publication that the man, after setting the house ablaze walked out calmly and stood in front the burning building.
The Guyana Fire Service later arrived on the scene during which Vickey was arrested.
