FIRE CHIEF Marlon Gentle yesterday told the Guyana Chronicle that the investigation into Saturday night’s fire at the Georgetown Magistrate Court Annex is now taking on the toll of a

criminal investigation which is being handled by the Guyana Police Force (GPF).

He added that while he is not sure if access will be granted to the building by the police to the various office bearers, but if it is granted, electrical work will have to be carried out on the building since it currently has no power supply and several electrical connections on and within the building will have to inspected first.
Quick action by the Guyana Fire Service prevented the Georgetown Magistrates Court Annex from going up in flames on Saturday night. The fire is suspected to be the work of an arsonist and was started at approximately 22.00 hrs.
On Saturday night persons reported that they saw a man calmly walking away from the building with apiece of lit cloth which he later discarded on Croal Street before turning south on to Avenue of the Republic and vanishing. It was seconds later that persons noticed smoke coming from the interior of the building at one of the offices on the lower flat.
The building, which houses magistrates hearing traffic offences and some other matters, is also home to several legal offices of prominent attorneys-at-law.
After the alarm was raised about the fire on Saturday night the Guyana Fire Service responded promptly and fire fighters quickly activated their pumps and hose and began dousing the flames, kicking down several doors to various sections of the building to allow the building to be ventilated which resulted in trapped smoke making its way out of the building.
During their fire fighting exercise and the loud noise a senior citizen who normally occupies the upper flat of the building was awakened from his slumber but was too traumatized to make it down the stairs of the building.
He however indicated that he had the keys to the building and he was ordered by a public spirited citizen to toss the keys into the yard which he did. The keys were then used to unlock the doors to the building allowing the man to make his way out with the assistance of a member of the public. The senior citizen was identified as one Mr. Fraser.
However, the actions of at least one police officer had a section of the crowd enraged on Saturday evening. After Mr. Fraser was brought down from the building and was displaying some signs of difficulty breathing the police rather than taking the man to the hospital placed him in an impact vehicle and took him down to the Brickdam Police Station for questioning. One police whose photograph was taken by this publication even abused the persons who advised them on taking the man to the hospital, using a series of expletives.
On Saturday too the police were not fully prepared to deal with the massive crowd that converged at the scene of the fire and instead of attempting to keep the crowd back they stood helplessly looking at the fire fighters doing their job. It was only after some senior police ranks came on the scene and ordered the other ranks to get busy that they began ordering the people to step back. Despite the absence of barricades at the location at the present time, the police officers were heard ordering spectators to get behind the barriers which clearly invoked loud laughter with persons asking the police officers to show them where the barriers were.
It was at that point that the police began using their vehicles to cordon off the area which was later complemented with several barriers that arrived on the scene about half hour after the fire started and was brought under control.
After the word of the fire at the court’s annex several persons, many of them known for liming around the Stabroek Market area and conductors and drivers of minibuses, were heard commenting that the building should burn down because of the amount of people that had to appear there for various offenses. Some were even overhead expressing their disappointment wit the quick response of the Guyana Fire Service fire tenders where they were able to bring the fire under control.
Also on the scene of the fire was Minister within the Finance Ministry, Juan Edghill who said that the move to damage a building that houses arms of the justice system is a backward move that comes from a perverted mind and should be condemned in the strongest possible words.
Edghill said that after he heard that there was a fire at the magistrate court he hurried to the scene since the courts are of special interest to him and his ministry. He noted that millions have been spent to refurbish and extend the substantial magistrates court building in the government’s effort to improve the justice system and administration in Guyana.
He was pleased that the building that was being refurbished and extended was not the one affected by the fire. He also said that based on reports he received from the Fire Chief who was also on the ground, the act seemed to be deliberate since there was a high smell of flammable substance in the room that the fire was suspected to have started.
The substantial magistrate building on Croal Street and Avenue of the Republic is being refurbished with financing under the Justice Sector Improvement Program.
Yesterday when this publication revisited the fire scene the police had barricaded the area between King Street and Avenue of the Republic and the building was being guarded by three police ranks.
Yesterday efforts to contact the Chancellor of the Judiciary to ascertain whether those operating from the damaged building would be allowed to carry out their functions as per normal today were futile.