Daren Dixon, common law husband of Vanessa Chinapoo,
left, and her former husband Joseph Chinapoo comfort
each other outside Forensic Centre, Federation Park,
St James. Photo: Jennifer Watson

While struggling to come to terms with the death of his father Fred Poora, 72, who was murdered on June 3, Daren Dixon has to deal with the loss of his family who perished in a fire on Saturday.

Poora, a truck driver from Mc Bean Road, in Couva, was found slumped in the front seat of his truck with multiple stab wounds at Maloney. In the fire, Dixon lost his eight-month pregnant common law wife Vanessa Chinapoo, 32 who actually gave birth during the tragedy. The baby did not survive the fire, which also claimed the life of Chinapoo’s older children—Sarah, 13, Chaiam, ten, and Moses, eight, as well as her niece Chenelle Dixon, 22. Dixon’s two-year-old nephew, Elijah Narine, also died in the blaze which destroyed the wooden and concrete structure.

At the Forensic Centre, Federation Park, St James, yesterday Dixon was surrounded by a large number of relatives, including Elijah’s grandmother Sophia Dixon. She is Dixon's sister, but she escaped the blaze. Among them were Chinapoo’s husband Joseph Chinapoo, who said, “The tragedy has brought us closer.” Wiping away the tears, Dixon said, “I am trying to cope with it. I can’t deal with it. The counsellors are saying, “It is something you have to go through and time will heal.” He said the pain cuts like a knife since Chinapoo was bearing his first child. Recounting his last conversation with her, he said, “She said, ‘I am going to pass some water.’” His next memory was “smoke in the place. “I got two children and pushed them to the door. I left them by the door. I tried to get to the rest of them,” he said

Ceiling falls. Everything became a blur. He shut his eyes as though blotting out the memories.

“The ceiling started to pop. It started to fall. I run back outside,” Dixon said. As the fire raged, he said, “I thought everyone was outside. I kept shouting. I kept crawling when I reach outside. I run up the back step. It collapsed. The roof caved.” Dixon said he has known no peace since his wife and the children perished. Sitting under a tree holding his head, Elijah’s father Timmy said, “I can’t explain it. I have no feeling.” He remembered getting a phone call about an emergency. When he arrived, a sense of hopelessness kicked in at the tragedy. “There was nothing I could do,” he said. The authorities came under fire. “They came from Chaguanas. They said there was no water in Savonetta,” he said. “Maybe, they could have saved a life if they had responded quicker and better,” he said.