THE charred remains of a man were removed from his West Ruimveldt home on Monday after his reputed wife allegedly burnt the house down with him inside.

Dead is 56-year-old Christopher ‘Harry’ Bramble. The unemployed man’s remains were taken to the Lyken’s Funeral Home.

Residents in the area said the couple shared a traumatic and abusive relationship in their one-flat wooden home at lot 39 West Ruimveldt, Georgetown.

Reports indicate that his reputed wife Jewel Coats, 36, called ‘Coolie Girl’ was burnt about the body in the wee hours of Monday morning, after residents who were alerted to a fire rescued her.

One eyewitness said that after she was rescued, residents asked about her husband’s whereabouts and she related that he was not at home.

The woman was then taken to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation because she suffered severe burns to her hands and body. She is listed as serious but in a stable condition.

Neighbours expressed outrage and related that the woman was the abusive person in the relationship, noting that Bramble was always advised to end the relationship but never did.
He was reportedly stabbed by her once and was also beaten on several occasions.

Initial investigations revealed that residents observed smoke and fire emanating from the small cottage at about 00:15hrs on Monday morning and responded.

“They were forced to break a wall to remove the female from the then engulfed structure since its door was locked; and it was only after the fire was extinguished that the discovery of Bramble was made. “The investigation is in progress,” the Police Public Relations Officer, Jairam Ramlakhan said.

Reports indicate that incidents of domestic violence by an intimate or a previous intimate partner rose from 74.8 per cent in 2011 to 89 per cent in 2017, with females accounting for an upward 80 per cent of the victims.

It was noted that three quarter of these gender-based violence cases stem mostly from Regions Three (Essequibo Islands-West Demerara), Four (Demerara-Mahaica), and Six (East Berbice-Corentyne).