CHIEF Magistrate Ann McLennan on Monday remanded 72-year-old city businessman Gangan Kishan, also known as Buddy, of 11 North Road, Bourda, Georgetown and his employee Avishkar Bissoon, 24, of Lot 1 Sheriff Street Georgetown, on a charge of murder, related to the fire which resulted in the deaths of two teenage girls and their father in a Robb and King Streets building that was gutted by fire at the end of 2014.They were not allowed to plead to the indictable charge that was read to them. The facts of the matter were not stated in court, and the case has been adjourned until March 4, 2016.

The charge read that between November 16, 2014 and December 21, 2014, through an act of arson, the duo murdered Theresa Rozario, Clarisse Rozario, and Hilrod Thomas in the confines of a dwelling house at King and Robb Streets, Georgetown.

Reports revealed that Theresa, 12, and her sister Clarissa, 14, died from burns about their bodies and from suffocation; while their father died a few days after the incident, while receiving treatment at the Georgetown Public hospital.

The assailants had reportedly approached the building, opened the grill work that was securing the wooden door, kicked the door open, and had made their way into the building, where they set a fire. The Fire Service was summoned, but the wooden building had been quickly engulfed in flames.

Even as the girls’ father had jumped to safety, his two daughters had remained trapped inside the building, and were eventually burnt to death. Their charred remains were removed by firefighters and undertakers.

In 2010, the same two children, along with an older sister and their father, had been rescued from the same building after it had mysteriously caught afire. Its destruction was averted because the Fire Service had responded in a timely manner.