Who is Lisa?

Who is Lisa?

This is the question several people are asking as they try to pick up the pieces after a fire which on Monday gutted six homes and left several people without a roof over their heads.

Lisa, said to be in her 20s, was burned alive in the same fire in Sea Lots.

Up to press time, not even the police knew who she was. Her body is being held at the Forensic Science Centre in St James while they wait for relatives to come forward and identify the body.

Neighbours speaking to Newsday yesterday said the mysterious woman appeared in Sea Lots on Sunday, as a house guest of one of the residents. They said she seemed to have mental-health issues, and told them she was from Santa Cruz.

“Sunday was the first day I saw that woman in my entire life,” said Isabella Morris, whose brother and nephew lost their homes in the blaze. “I asked her who she was because I realised she wasn’t too right in her head.

"All she had on was a long jersey and she was shaking. She was stout and short and young and had a round face and short, natural hair.

"I was eating a piece of watermelon, and she looked at me and smiled and said 'I like watermelon, you know,' so I gave her a piece. She ate piece and gave piece to a cat.”

Morris said she asked Lisa if she had ever been in a mental hospital. At first Lisa said no, then, according to Morris, she admitted she had.

Morris said she brought clothes for her, gave her food and went back to her home nearby, only to be called by a neighbour and told the house in which she had left Lisa had caught fire. The blaze ignited in the board and wood structure at about 5 pm, trapping Lisa inside.

Lesline Richardson, the 62-year-old neighbour, told Newsday she could hear Lisa scream as fire gutted the home and claimed her life.

“I was inside my home with my four grandchildren, when we started smelling smoke. One of my grandchildren said there was a fire and ran out our house. I quickly grabbed up the baby and ran out of the house as well.

"We were hearing her (Lisa) scream from inside the house as it burned down.

" I couldn’t sleep that night. Every time I closed my eyes, I could hear her screaming.”

Richardson’s house wasn’t destroyed, but several appliances and her electricity meter were destroyed in the fire.

While fire services are still trying to find out the source of the blaze, relatives believe it might have had an electrical source. Morris told Newsday that while her nephew was speaking to police, he mentioned that moments before the fire ignited, he cooked a meal for Lisa on a hotplate, then went out to buy cigarettes.

Morris said her nephew, who hass mental-health issues himself, had a habit of bringing home friends and people he met in Port of Spain to stay. Morris said if she did not pass by the house on Sunday she would not even have known Lisa was there.

While police continue trying to identify Lisa, the displaced residents of Sea Lots now have to rebuild their homes and their lives. When Newsday arrived yesterday, people in the area had come together to clear the ashes of the homes destroyed in the fire. They were seen gathering scrap metal which survived the blaze to sell to a dealer to get money to begin rebuilding.

However, one displaced resident, Emmanuel Morris, who has lived there for 15 years says the proceeds from the scrap-iron sale will not be enough.

“Selling that metal would only get small money. I lost all my clothes, my TV, my washing machine...I lost everything.”

The displaced residents were told they could approach the Ministry of Social Development for assistance. In the meantime, some will have to depend on the kindness of neighbours and family members, while others will have to resort to sleeping on the streets.