Accused set fire to building, killing three, jury told
JUSTICE James Bovell-Drakes and a Demerara Assize jury yesterday heard how the broken marriage of Arshad Ali, called George, led to a triple murder at Parika, Essequibo in 2006.

Accused Arshad Ali called ‘George

Two children and their grandmother, 66, were burnt to death when the house they occupied at Parika Backdam was set afire between May 8 & 9, 2006.

Police investigations resulted in the accused, Arshad Ali, called ‘George’, being arrested and charged with the crime.

George, who has pleaded not guilty to the crime, is being defended by Senior Counsel Mr. Bernard De Santos and lawyer Mrs. Pamela De Santos.

Miss Prithima Kissoon, with Miss Zamilla Ali, is prosecuting. In her opening address yesterday, she told the jurors about the indictment, charging the accused with three counts of murder inflicted upon two sisters, Anika and Devika Bowling, ages 1 and 3, and their grandmother, Victoria Benjamin.

According to prosecutor Kissoon, “The concatenation of events that led to this dreadful drama are that the accused, Arshad Ali, called George, was married to an Amerindian woman, Onika Thomas, by Muslim rites. She is the sister of Anika and Devika Bowling and the granddaughter of Victoria Benjamin.

“This marriage, which commenced in 2004, was an enjoyable union for two fleeting years. During the subsistence of this marriage, the accused and his wife built the house in which this sad and sorrowful episode occurred. While building this house at One Mile Parika Backdam, the accused and his wife lived nearby briefly with her parents, George and Glarey Bowling, approximately three months in 2005.

“They assisted him to build the house by giving him materials to do so.

“The accused and his wife moved in to their house soon thereafter, and regretfully they started to have domestic misunderstandings which resulted in the once blissful union becoming so unbearable on the part of both parties that they decided to live separate and apart from each other.

“Sometime during their two month separation in 2006, the evidence will show that the accused proposed to his wife that he would surrender his share in the house to her absolutely. They went to a JP and the accused signed his rights in the house to Onika Thomas and he then went to live with his parents.

“After this agreement was executed, Onika Thomas refused to live in the marital home and left it empty; she went to live with her cousin Whilomena Bowling in Kitty. The accused started to frequently call his wife attempting to persuade and sweet talk her to reconcile ‘and reunite with him, but she refused”, the prosecutor declared.

The prosecutor went on to say that on the 8th May, 2006, witnesses will say that the accused went to the Hari Gas Station at Good Hope, where he normally purchased gas and bought $500 gasoline in a one gallon bleach bottle, and he rode away on a bicycle to carry out his grave criminal act.

She added “The accused, during the early morning of the 9th May, 2006, at approximately 2 a.m., went to the house at One Mile Parika Backdam where he was seen by Onissa Bowling running away from the house which was consumed in a blaze of flames.

“The evidence will disclose that Onissa Bowling, on the 9th May 2006, at 2 a.m., was awakened by the screams of her mother Glarey Bowling, saying ‘ah yuh throw water, fire’

Onissa jumped up from her mattress and on doing so she saw the bed where her mother Glarey Bowling was sleeping with her two siblings, Anika and Devika Bowling, on fire as well as the mattress of her grandmother Victoria Bowling; she rushed to the door which she opened and there she saw Arshad Ali running away from the blazing house; he dropped something and turned back to pick it up, and she was able to see his face.

“On the 9th May, 2006 at approximately 5 a.m., the accused was arrested by Corporal Phillip Walters at his parents’ home in Good Hope, East Bank, Essequibo. He was subsequently escorted to the Parika Police Station where he was held in custody.