Nine homeless after fire guts Grove home

A fire which was allegedly deliberately set has left nine persons of Grove, East Bank Demerara, homeless. 

The inferno completely gutted the two-storey building in the wee hours of Monday morning, December 20th.  Guyana Times International has learnt that the alleged arsonist was taken into police custody immediately after he publicly admitted that he had started the blaze.  

The suspect, 40-year-old Tony Gookle of Grove, East Bank Demerara, is a known drug addict in the area, and has reportedly made numerous previous attempts to burn the house in which his father, brother, sister-in-law and five children live. 

When this publication arrived on the scene, the building that once stood at Lot 300 Grove Housing Scheme was completely gutted, and fire-fighters were working assiduously to save the neighbouring building. From all indications, nothing was saved from the home. 

One neighbour, Drupattie Pooran, whose house was scorched as a result of the heat, said that she was awakened at around 02:00 hrs by the heat of the blaze, and she quickly alerted the Guyana Fire Service. But by the time they arrived, the building was completely burnt. 

Pooran, nevertheless, thanked the fire-fighters for saving her property. She said that after the blaze started, Gookle was standing outside on the bridge and was heard shouting, “Meh done am now!” 

She explained that the owner of the house is a pensioner, who was inside the building when the fire started, but had quickly managed to escape without receiving any serious injury. She further stated that the occupants would normally used kerosene lamps, which the perpetrator allegedly used to start the fire. “No one was at home except the old man, his son, Tony, and another boy who stays with them,” she said.

The owner of the house, Ramesh Gookle, was too distraught to give any details  about the fire, but he told this publication that is “Tony who bun the house down”. He said that everything was destroyed in the fire, including his National Insurance Scheme card, which he uses to get his pension. “Everything gone! Meh nah know weh meh go live!” he cried, as he sat under a mango tree in his back yard. 

Ramesh Gookle is asking the public for assistance in putting his life back together.