(UPDATE) Familial strife leads to fight, house fire in Beetham

Years of arguments and fights boiled over early on Tuesday morning when two brothers fought and one of their homes caught fire at Phase Five, Beetham Gardens.

Police said the brothers, 35 and 36, got into a fight at around 12.15 am. One of the men stabbed the other on his head with a broken bottle, while the other threw acid on the one who stabbed him.

A short while later residents saw the smoke and flames coming from the home of one of the men and called the police.

Besson Street police and fire officers went to the scene and put out the blaze.

The brothers and a ten-year-old boy, who was also injured in the fracas, was taken to hospital for treatment.

Police said they tried to interview one of the men who was incoherent at the time. They said they also spoke to other relatives, in the yard, who claimed they did not know how the fire started.

Newsday visited the area on Tuesday and spoke with a relative who said while the incident was frightening, it was not the first time both men had violent confrontations.

The relative said the men lived in the same yard with other relatives near the Priority Bus Route and were constantly arguing with and threatening each other.

The relative is calling for immediate police intervention saying, if left unaddressed, someone could be killed.

"I don't know personally who was in the right or the wrong in this incident last night.

"I am really fed up. It's been so much madness and we're sick and tired of this. I told another relative that someone is going to get carried out of here in a body bag.

"Everybody is worried in here. About three weeks ago there was a bad fight in this yard. Someone ended up pulling out someone's electrical cord, one of them hit the other in his head with a rolling pin. By the time they were finished, this yard looked like the end of J'Ouvert morning with the amount of big stone and broken glass bottles."

Newsday was told one of the relatives had to leave the house with her children ages one month, two-years-old and seven-years-old after smoke from the fire began entering her house.

The relative said, as of Tuesday morning one of the brothers was being treated for burns from the acid while the other was being treated for stab wounds from the broken glass bottle.

Newsday spoke with a neighbour who also said he was accustomed to hearing arguments and fights coming from the yard, and was also concerned for the safety of the children who lived there.

He said he was asleep but remembered hearing cursing before the argument.

"You could ask anybody around here, I always hearing arguments around here. I'm always seeing police over there.

"I awoke after I heard a bunch of cursing and carrying on. Those two guys are overdoing it. It's only natural there will be some disagreements and arguments, but they overdo it.

"My brother and I might argue, but what they did I would never think of doing something like that. Up to last night I saw their sister holding a baby and her other children on the road when they set fire to the house."