Senior Reporter
kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
A La Romaine plumber was left sifting through the ruins of his home on Sunday after a fire reduced the structure to rubble, while residents turned their anger on a Venezuelan migrant woman they believed was responsible, dragging and beating her in the street.
The incident, captured on video and widely circulated on social media, sparked outrage.
The footage shows a man pushing the petite woman along George Street before lifting her and slamming her onto the roadway.
Her clothing was pulled as she struggled to escape. Two other men joined in, hauling her back as she attempted to flee, while onlookers shouted, “Bring her,” “She is trying to run,” and “Tie her up.”
At one point, those present remarked that she had urinated on herself.
As the assault unfolded, homeowner Smith Zoey did not take part, instead focusing on his burning house.
Police detained the woman later on Sunday, though residents later claimed they saw her walking the streets of San Fernando.
According to police, Zoey left his home around 8.30 am. At approximately 12.30 pm, a neighbour called to say his house was on fire. He arrived home about five minutes later to find the entire structure engulfed in flames.
Fire officers from the Mon Repos Fire Station responded and extinguished the blaze. The cause of the fire remains unknown.
Police said the fire destroyed a two-storey concrete and board structure, with damage estimated at $100,000.
Zoey, 55, who rented the property for the past 17 years, said Alison McKenzie was his friend and tenant who lived on the lower floor. McKenzie’s migrant “girlfriend,” he said, had been staying there intermittently for the past three months.
Zoey recalled being at his sister’s home on Potato Street when a neighbour called frantically, urging him to return home. He immediately left, but as he drove down George Street, he could already see flames rising from a hill overlooking his property. He remained there until firefighters brought the blaze under control. Zoey said he was told the fire started downstairs, but could not say whether it was arson.
He maintained that no one was home when he left that morning and that neighbours later relayed what they believed had happened.
“When I came, they said that the fella, who is staying downstairs girlfriend was there. They heard a kind of noise, and she bawled out and watch they watched, they saw smoke coming out of the place. That is what I was told. She ran out of the yard and was gone,” Zoey said.
Zoey said he lost all his furniture, appliances, clothing and tools used for plumbing and maintenance work, amounting to tens of thousands of dollars.
His vehicles and his son’s vehicle also suffered fire damage.
He said the woman had never caused him serious problems, but residents frequently complained about her entering their homes or throwing objects. He said he often had to tell McKenzie to speak to her about her behaviour. According to Zoey, a shopkeeper had chased her on Saturday, accusing her of stealing a lighter. That same day, he told McKenzie that he no longer wanted the woman staying at the house. On Sunday morning, he saw her in the yard and felt that, over time, she had grown increasingly disrespectful.
Zoey spent Sunday night at a relative’s home and said he is uncertain how he will rebuild his life.
He said he hopes to secure a new place to rent and replace clothing and tools lost in the fire.
Zoey said he was shocked when he later learned of the video circulating online. While acknowledging that the woman appeared to have been taken advantage of, he said he would not have harmed her.
He admitted understanding the frustration felt by residents, including his own son, who wanted to retaliate but was talked down.
“To me, hitting her did not make sense me, so I just turned and walked away.”
McKenzie told Guardian Media that the woman was his friend and not his girlfriend. He said rumours spread quickly, but he insisted the woman was not home when he briefly returned earlier that day to drop off items. He said he left again, less than 15 minutes later, to deliver sand and gravel a few houses away.
“People down here does just talk, you understand, but she was not home when I came home. I came home, just dropped a bag and went back right there. Two barrows of gravel I put down, two barrows of sand I put down, and by the time I heard somebody saying fire, I came home to see what was burning because I had now left home. I could not even reach here. By the time I reached back, right there by the third house, I could not reach here,’ McKenzie said.
McKenzie said he lost a chainsaw, power saw, chop saw, drill and grinder in the fire.
