A 40-year-old suspect, who is accused of setting a mother of two on fire in Freeport over the weekend, has surrendered to the police.
The man, a close male relative of the victim, Afyia Adams, 41, gave himself up to the police on Sunday night.
The horrific incident occurred around 5.30 am on Saturday, during an argument between the two at her Maraj Avenue home. The man, police said, allegedly doused the woman with gasoline and ignited the fire.She is in critical condition at the Eric Williams Sciences Complex, Mt Hope.
When Guardian Media visited yesterday, no one was at her home but neighbours expressed sadness over the incident. A neighbour recalled that there was a gas odour and then a smell of smoke.
She said, “I smelling smoke and hearing bawling. When I watch, I see fire by the fig tree (close to Adams’s house) so I call my husband. The fire started from there, so he picked up a bucket of water and he went to out it and he called my brother-in-law and the two of them started to out it.”
The neighbour said other people were helping them. While this was happening, she heard bawling, but at first, they did not know it was Adams. Adams was in the back of the house with the suspect.
“He was trying to out the fire on she,” she said.
When they walked to the back, she saw Adams lying on her back with burns from her chest down. She was crying and bawling in pain. The neighbour also observed that the suspect’s hands were burnt.
Adams’ daughters, ages 15 and nine, were at home.
Meanwhile, the suspect’s relative denied that he had set her on fire. She told Guardian Media that Adams was accidentally burnt when she threw the gasoline into a fire that was in the yard.
Freeport police are investigating.
