–and to attend court
FIFTY-YEAR-OLD businessman, Linus La Cruz, also known as “Uncle Lenny”, the prime suspect in the Port Kaituma arson/murder in which his wife and four of his children perished in a home that was set afire, was yesterday flown to the city from Port Kaituma to receive further medical attention and appear in court.

He arrived at the Ogle International Airport yesterday morning in a wheelchair, shackled and under police guard, hardly mobile because of the several bandages placed about his body where he had sustained burns.

Displaying evident signs of pain when he tried to move, La Cruz had to be assisted into a police vehicle by ranks wearing surgical gloves. Some of his nephews, nieces and other relatives were at the airport when he arrived from Port Kaituma. Many could not hold back their tears, while others tried to restrain themselves from breaking down as they continuously asked after the man’s health.

A stoic La Cruz would only stare at persons and his surroundings, even as he tried to use his handcuffed hands to hide his face from the cameras.

Last Friday evening, La Cruz reputedly locked his wife and four children in their Port Kaituma home as he doused the building with a flammable substance and set it alight. His family had no hope of escaping the resultant inferno, since he had locked a grill door from the outside, thus preventing any access into, or exit from the building.

Frantic efforts by Port Kaituma residents to rescue the perishing or extinguish the fire by means of a bucket brigade proved futile. There is no fire station in Port Kaituma.

The man had reportedly told investigators that he had set the building on fire with his family inside because he was stressed out, had a heap of debts with which he could not cope, and had decided to commit the act.

The dead have been identified as Lea La Cruz, 14; Lavette La Cruz, 3; Labron La Cruz, 8; Levon La Cruz, 1; and their mother, Lurlene La Cruz, 39. This newspaper was informed that the charred remains of the four children and their mother were buried yesterday in Port Kaituma.

A Government pathologist, accompanied by police and fire investigators, travelled to Port Kaituma on Sunday to augment investigations into the incident.
Meanwhile

That fire in the area has renewed calls for the establishment of fire stations or other means to fight fires in hinterland locations. Those calls were first made when several building at the business hub of another interior location had gone up in flames one night a few years ago.

The deaths of the children and their mother have seen the relatives of the dead woman acknowledging that she had been living in an abusive relationship, which she had tried to hide from them after they had repeatedly spoken to her about it.

The relatives also spoke of the man locking the woman in the house on several occasions to prevent her from going places, because he was of the view that she had been unfaithful to him.
By Leroy Smith