A Sea Lots businessman lost his entire business, including appliances and furniture for sale, following an alleged arson attack on Tuesday night.
The suspect, a 28-year-old woman who was detained by family members and hog-tied, was handed over to the police at about 2.35 pm yesterday.
Speaking with the Guardian Media among the burnt-out rubble of what was once his workshop yesterday, Nizam Taylor, 58, spoke of the incident alleging that he and his wife, Unes Taylor, 63, were tormented and threatened for five years, with the culmination on Tuesday night when his workshop was burnt to the ground.
“A sad day in my family life. A female relative of ours light my workshop on fire and destroyed everything. It’s five years we’ve been going through that problem with her,” Taylor said.
“We tried to get her help by warding her at St Ann’s but when the report came back they said nothing wrong mentally. We coped with it over the years. But yesterday (Tuesday), she came and asked the seven-year-old granddaughter for cigarettes and paper from the shop. The seven-year-old say she not allowed there and she start to get on,” he added.
“She said when she go asleep she will light the whole place on fire. Right now I am not sure how I’m going to deal with my loss. I just recently lost my son and we now trying to get out of that trauma.”
He admitted he was confused and didn’t know where to start or if he can even make a restart.
“It’s about $150,000 in losses and no assistance yet. We didn’t get time to think on who to call or seek out assistance or anything like that.”
On Tuesday night when the police were called to the scene, the female suspect managed to escape and hide. The family was told by the police that when and if she returned they should detain her and call the police.
Shortly after 2 pm, the woman surfaced at Taylor’s home and with a glass bottle in her hand and in full view of the Guardian Media team, began laying threats. With the help of residents, the woman was eventually detained and hogtied with rope and duct tape and the police called in.
A team of police officers, along with the ambulance, arrived at about 2.20 pm. As the team of medical personnel was attending to her, however, the woman managed to push away the personnel and officers and ran off. However, Taylor and other residents caught her, subdued her and handed her over to the police and medical technicians. She was then tied to a stretcher and taken to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital for medical treatment.
Police officers said the woman will be again sent to St Ann’s Hospital for treatment and an assessment, following which they will seek to lay charges against her for arson and threats.
As the police officers were escorting the suspect on the stretcher to the ambulance, an emotional Unes cried and shouted at the police to “jail her for good.”
“Please officers tell me you all will jail her for good. She tormented us for too long and we are scared for our lives. I need peace. We need to sleep good when the night reach. Since this fire happen we ain’t sleep because she promised to come burn down my parlour and us in the house.”
Investigations are continuing.
