Burned 11-year-old girl blames dad for fire injuring her and 6-year-old sister (New Amsterdam, Guyana)

Note that the police took both parents into custody though the 11-year-old daughter makes it very clear that 1) the father PAUL EDGHILO started the fire, 2) the mother grabbed the children and tried to throw water on the blaze, and 3) the father tried to block the doorway to keep the mother and two of the children from getting out. Too many victims of domestic violence--whether in Guyana or elsewhere--are getting arrested though they didn't do anything to warrant an arrest.

http://www.stabroeknews.com/2009/stories/09/25/burnt-girl-blames-father-for-fire/

Burnt girl blames father for fire
By Stabroek staff September 25, 2009

One of the two children badly burnt during a row between their parents at Angoy’s Avenue has accused her father of starting the fire that has disfigured her and a younger sister.

Nathasia, 11, and Kimberly, 6, were still nursing injuries at the New Amsterdam Hospital yesterday, while their parents remained in police custody. The girls have sustained severe burns on about 80% of their bodies, including their backs, tummies, hands and feet.

Kimberly’s face was also burnt and she is unable to talk. The children, especially Kimberly, were crying out in pain yesterday.

Their parents, Marlyn Lindie, 42, and Paul Edghilo, 29, were engaged in a bitter row when the stove was hurled towards the bed. They continue to blame each other for the disaster.

They were taken into police custody shortly after the incident.

A relative told this newspaper yesterday that Nathasia has related that she had awakened during the argument with her parents and saw when her father picked up the stove and hurled it in the direction of the bed. The child said too that after the mattress caught fire her mother grabbed them to safety and threw water on her to put out the blaze.

Her father, meanwhile, removed the mattress from the bed and used it to block the doorway, preventing her, Kimberly and their mother from passing. Before that, the girl related, he let her two smaller siblings; Sabrina, 5 and Isaiah, 3, out of the house. Left with no other choice, Nathasia courageously threw her sister out of the window and jumped after her.

Reports are that Edghilo and Lindie had an argument on Tuesday night and he walked out of the house. This newspaper learnt that the man returned home around 4am as the woman was preparing breakfast and the argument continued.

According to reports, in a fit of anger the man reportedly pitched the pot off the one-burner kerosene stove before hurling the stove at the woman.

The stove missed her and fell on the bed where the children were sleeping in the small shack which is just a few feet off the ground.

The bed immediately became engulfed in flames.

Meanwhile, Lindie’s mother, Zelda, said that the couple had been living together for almost 12 years. The woman said that the two were always involved in fights and she had told them to go their separate ways. The woman who said her daughter has three other older children from a separate union has never visited her at her Angoy’s Avenue home.