–victim believes attack politically motivated

THE police are currently investigating an incident of suspected attempted arson on a Honda Fitz motor car owned by Eamuka Mgqondo, on Sunday at his Good Hope home. According to Mgqondo, he noticed the fire sometime around 07:00hrs when he got up.

Mggondo told the Guyana Chronicle that he had gotten up to open the gate to allow the gardener access to weed the yard; he added that while downstairs he noticed “black soot” coming from the back half of the car, and went to investigate. He then saw a bottle with burnt paper on top of the car.

“Well I got up around 7 am and I went downstairs to open the gate for the gardener to come and cut the grass in the yard; I smelled gasoline, so I started looking for where it was coming from. That’s when I saw some black soot coming form the back of the vehicle and I rushed to see what was happening. There was a bottle with some burnt paper on the top of the car, so I tried my best to put it out because the blaze wasn’t that big by the time I caught it.”

Mgqondo stated that although he cannot confirm it, he believes that the attack was politically motivated, as he has no known enemies, stating: “I never had any issue with people, the only thing I can say is that it’s political, cause I have a set of APNU+AFC banners all over the front of my house.” He further told the Chronicle that he is a teacher by profession and does not believe the issue stems from his professional life.

Although the interior of the vehicle was not damaged, and there was only minor exterior damage, the police are currently conducting an investigation to ascertain the identity of the perpetrator, and have received video surveillance footage from one of Mgqondo’s neighbours.

This incident comes almost one week after a similar incident of suspected arson which destroyed four vehicles that were parked in the compound of the Ministry of the Public Service. A Honda CRV belonging to local television journalist Travis Chase was destroyed in that incident; a vehicle which belonged to the ministry and two privately owned vehicles were also completely destroyed in the blaze which reportedly started around 02:45hrs on June 29, 2020.

Chase had told the Guyana Chronicle that although he has been threatened several times in the past for his work as a journalist, he could not definitively say that the attack has anything to do with his job.

Chase, who is also executive director of a gold-mining company, stated that in February 2019, someone had slashed the tyres of his Nissan Dualis, a matter which is currently under investigation by the police. The GPF has stated that it is currently utilising its resources to conduct an investigation into the destruction of the vehicles that were being housed in the building, and will be working on finding the perpetrators of the crime.