Four Venezuelan nationals were left homeless after a two-storey wooden house at King Street, Hampshire Village, Corentyne, Berbice, was destroyed by fire late on Sunday in what the Guyana Fire Service suspects was a case of arson.
Firefighters from the Rose Hall Fire Station found the building completely engulfed in flames when they arrived, the Fire Service said. They contained the blaze to prevent it from spreading to nearby properties, but the house and its contents were destroyed.
The Fire Service said preliminary investigations indicate the fire was maliciously set by a person or persons unknown, and that investigations are continuing.
One of the occupants, 24-year-old Cheto Johnathan Heberto, said a man had confronted the four Venezuelan occupants before returning armed with a cutlass.
“The man come at the house there, four men—we does sleep there. The night he come he talk talk too much, he go home and come back bring cutlass, one of the boy sleep at the lower flat. The man come over and chop him, to kill him. We come here to work and live. We living right here, sleep. That man clothes, me clothes, the other man clothes, everybody clothes burn up,” he said.
Residents in the area said the suspect entered the yard at around 23:00hrs on Sunday and assaulted a neighbour while demanding to know the whereabouts of two of the Venezuelan men living at the property.
The suspect, who reportedly lives in the same area, then returned home, armed himself with a cutlass and went to another neighbour’s house, where he allegedly chopped at the door before crossing the street to the house occupied by the Venezuelan nationals, residents said.
He then attacked one of the occupants with the cutlass, inflicting injuries, before fleeing the scene, residents alleged. A neighbour took the injured man to hospital, where he remains a patient.
While the man was being taken for treatment, another resident said she saw the suspect filling bottles with what appeared to be a flammable liquid before throwing them at the house, which was then engulfed in flames. She said bottles were also thrown into her yard, setting her cherry tree and parts of her property alight.
Residents said they were uncertain what sparked the confrontation but alleged the suspect had been smoking marijuana before the incident and became aggressive. They called on the authorities to conduct a thorough investigation.
