Latest update April 24th, 2024 12:59 AM
Sep 13, 2009 News
A visually impaired pensioner was burnt to death while trying to light a stove at his 2467 Soufreire Street, North Ruimveldt home shortly before midday yesterday.
Edward Bowen, 73, was pulled from his kitchen around 11:00 hours by neighbours who had rushed to his assistance after they observed smoke billowing from his house.
But by that time he had already sustained severe burns about his body.
Neighbours said that Bowen lived alone and would normally cook for himself.
A neighbour who lives three houses away from Bowen told this newspaper that she was in her kitchen when she saw thick smoke.
She ran downstairs and scaled a fence to get to where the smoke was coming from.
She then observed that it was coming from Bowen’s house and some other neighbours were already trying to fight the blaze with buckets of water.
According to the neighbours, realising that Bowen lived alone and they were not hearing any screams, rescuers ventured into the house and found Bowen lying motionless in the kitchen in the thick smoke.
They pulled the unconscious man out of the kitchen and rested him on the top of his front stairway.
“I stop and check his pulse and when I check it he was still alive. We keep outing the fire and after then he conk out,” the neighbour told this newspaper.
She said that they summoned the fire service and the ambulance service, but both agencies did not arrive until after the fire was extinguished and Bowen was dead.
Only the kitchen of the house was damaged.
The dead man’s son, Roger Bowen, related that he was at work when he received a message that his father’s house was on fire.
“When I come I see he lie down dead by de door and the firemen outing the fire,” Roger Bowen told Kaieteur News.
Another neighbour, Brenda Benjamin, said that Bowen’s son was living with him three years ago and the old man, wanting to be alone, had chased him out of the property.
“Several times the son come to help clean up this place and he would curse and chase him. He carry he all to the station and they went to court,” Benjamin told this newspaper.
Roger Bowen stated that he had made several attempts for someone to stay in the house and look after his father but the old man kept rejecting the help.
He said that his father drank a lot and was a bit “own way”.
Police checked the scene and confirmed that there was no foul play before having the body removed by undertakers from the Lyken Funeral home.
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