Arsonists strike Marabella family

FEARFUL of arsonists burning down their home, a Marabella family sought refuge with relatives. Their decision to flee was a smart move since their house at Battoo Boulevard was set on fire early Sunday morning.

There have been two previous attempts to burn the family’s home and Peter Burnett told Newsday someone has been trying to kill him and his family. Burnett, his common-law wife Dawn Ferdinand and their 14 year-old daughter were not at home when the fire was set at 3 am on Sunday. Firemen were unable to extinguish the blaze.

Burnett said does not know who and why anyone would want to harm his family. The two previous attempts were reported to the Marabella police.

Burnett said for the past few weeks, he has been unable to sleep.

“It is not a good feeling to know that someone out there wants you, your wife and child dead. I have no beef with anyone. I am a community person so I was not expecting something like this to happen to us.” He said because of a “bad feeling” he had, he and his family stayed by relatives. “We all could have been dead. Whoever it is, wants us dead. My wife wanted to sleep in the house but I told her I was getting a bad feeling. I always go with my feelings. And we did not sleep in the house.” Their daughter’s new uniforms and school supplies were also destroyed in the fire. “We worked so hard to save money to buy my daughter’s school supplies. I cannot even sleep now knowing that whoever did this is out there walking free.”

In a separate incident, a man, believed to mentally challenged, set his house on fire at Lothians Road, Princes Town, on Saturday night.

According to police, at about 8.30 pm, the man set the house on fire then began running through the streets. He was later detained by police and taken into custody.

Princes Town police are investigating.