A TWO-STOREY house in Number 59 Village, East Berbice, Corentyne, was on Friday destroyed after it was set ablaze by a young man who had a fight with his father.

The reason for the fight is not known, but according to reports, the son is in the habit of being abusive towards his parents and others.

Vekanand Dhanraj, called “Rishie boy”, 21, was reportedly intoxicated when he set ablaze the car his mother had purchased for him six months ago; the car was parked at the bottom of the house.

The fire from the blazing car quickly engulfed the lower-flat of the home and spread to the entire house within minutes.

The Fire Service was informed of the blaze, but by the time they arrived, the house was already destroyed.

According to information, “Rishie boy” had before threatened to destroy the home he shares with his mother and father.

The Dhanraj family less than a year ago re-migrated to Guyana.

A neighbor, Kamini Bahadur, said she was doing some chores when someone called out to her shouting Fire!

“Them say come see what this waste man do, come see so I go see the car on fire under the house so I call out for everybody who did start gather out on the street  to bring out their bucket and come to help out the fire, but it was already catching on the downstairs part.”

Villagers say “Rishie boy” would always drink and “perform and verbally abuse passersby and would also abuse his parents”.

Another neighbour said on Christmas Eve, he was heavily intoxicated and used a cutlass to chop the house and at the same time threw out several pieces of furniture.

“He was on the dam cussing up saying nobody nah deh home to beat so me gon beat up the house so me see he around the house with the cutlass and he just deh ah lash it up.”

Meanwhile, on Friday, it is reported that the young man and his father were involved in a fight when he reportedly set the car ablaze.

“They were both drunk and when the fire started, the father was laying on the bridge and some persons had to lift him to safety…. I think he beat his father up but afterwards they were ok. He (Rishie) would treat his parents bad all the time; sometimes his mother have to leave home when he start behave like that.”

The family estimates their losses in the millions. Vekanand Dhanraj was subsequently arrested and remains in police custody, pending investigations.