Investigators are looking to question the brother of an alleged drug dealer to get answers about the source of a fire that happened on August 04, last. That fire destroyed a Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara (ECD) shack and left seven-year-old Shaniya Persaud dead.
Investigators received information that Persaud’s mother, Samantha Gayadin, was having an affair with the person in question. The motive for the deadly blaze is still unclear at this point.
Guyana Standard has been informed that the person of interest would usually spend a lot of time at his brother’s business place—a drug shop which is located next to the deceased’s home, on the sea defense.
Initially, the police had expressed an interest in questioning the drug dealer himself since just a few days before the fire, his drug block was raided and he had threatened to destroy whoever reported him.
“We don’t have anything on him (drug dealer) but we are now receiving information about the mother and his brother so we are looking to question him but can’t seem to locate him,” a police source indicated.
Based on information received, the fire started outside of the house, on the side of the drug block. Additionally, the house was without electricity and the family did not have any candles to light, leading the police and fire department to believe it was definitely an act of arson.
On August 4, last, little Persaud was sleeping in her Mon Repos home when it went up in flames around 01:00 hr. Her two older brothers managed to escape unhurt but she was left sleeping in the burning building.
At the time of the fire, the child’s father, a fisherman, was working at sea while her mother, a domestic worker, was said to be helping out at a wedding house in the village. The little girl had told neighbours that she was sleeping when she felt a burning sensation on her feet and then saw bright flames around her.
She had said that she could not see anything but fire so she closed her eyes and walked towards the area where she knew their door was located.
Neighbours rushed her to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation where she was hospitalized for several days until she had to be transported to the hospital in Texas where she later succumbed to her injuries.
