A WOMAN is fearful for her life and that of her family after an attempted arson on her Lot 25 Bloomfield, East Berbice home on Wednesday.
Rashrie Permaul, an Alliance For Change (AFC), Local Government Election (LGE) candidate, told Guyana Chronicle that she was in the bottom-flat of her home having a snack at around 21:45hrs when she noticed a ball of flame emanating from the eastern side of the house.
She recalled at first, smelling a high aroma of lit cigarette but paid no attention. However, moments later, she saw blazing flames.
Reports are the fire was set on a cardboard box and placed on a side wall of the house. Investigation later revealed two wooden posts soaked in kerosene.
“I got up and run upstairs to my daughter and woke her up and from the upstairs window we saw the fire blazing and dogs were barking in the backyard.”
The fire was quickly put out and no damage was reported.
Permaul called the police and relatives who responded and made several checks around the premises. A kerosene bottle was recovered as possible evidence in the arson attempt. Permaul shares the home with her young daughters, ages 15 and seven, along with her medically-ill father.
Meanwhile, police have arrested one Safraz Beekham of Letter Kenny Village in relation to the alleged arson attempt.
Beekham, in October filed an application in the High Court against the AFC and GECOM contending that he and 49 others were misled by the AFC into signing as nominators on the AFC’s list of candidates for the November 12 Local Government Elections (LGE).
As such, his application was intended to quash GECOM’s decision to refuse to withdraw, remove, or delete the applicant’s name and the names of 49 other electors that appeared on the AFC’s list of nominators.
However, his application was dismissed by Justice Navendra Singh who said there was no evidence of fraud, trickery or threat, and as such there was no basis to ask the chief elections officer to ‘strike out’ the names of the nominators from the AFC’s lists of candidates.
His decision to dismiss the case was done after reviewing a police report of an investigation into the claims by Beekham.
Meanwhile, Permaul informed the Guyana Chronicle that Beekham on several occasions used threatening language towards her because of her affiliation with the AFC.
“He called my landline phone a couple different times and threaten my daughters when I was on TV. Then another time he called and spoke with me saying I am doing stupidness for the AFC people them and he would take a wood and hit me in my head and kill me,” Permaul said.
The 35-year-old mother related that the incidents were promptly reported to the police.
The AFC, in a release, called on the Guyana Police Force and the Guyana Fire Service to investigate and apprehend those responsible for the criminal act.
