Suspect held after 4-y-o dies in arson attack

A man has been held in connection with the fire that killed four-year-old Sariak Kowen early Tuesday morning in Dean Pen, St Mary.

Deputy Superintendent Kevin Francis, acting commandant for the St Mary Police Division, told The Gleaner that the suspect was held during a police operation on Tuesday but has declined to comment further. He had earlier said that the police are treating the incident as a case of suspected arson.

Residents from the rural community, which is located near Highgate, awoke to news of the infant’s gruesome death early Tuesday morning, reportedly occurring after someone allegedly threw a bottle bomb into the house about 4 o’clock while Sariak, her mother and other relatives were asleep.

The child’s mother, 38-year-old Rose Beecher, received severe burns in the suspected attack and is said to be hospitalised in serious condition.

One report reaching The Gleaner was that residents heard explosions sounding like gunshots before the house was seen on fire.

According to the police report, the occupants of the house were asleep when Beecher felt a liquid substance on her and then immediately felt the burns from the fire. When she got up, the house was engulfed in flames.

Without time to alert or assist anyone, the woman reportedly managed to run to safety, but received severe burns to her body.

The Jamaica Fire Brigade was called to the scene and after cooling-down operations, Sariak’s charred remains were found.

Her distraught father, Okoy Kowen, who lives elsewhere, said that he got a call when he awoke on Tuesday morning, informing him that the home of his child’s mother was destroyed in a fire, but he was not notified of his daughter’s death.

He said that he later broke down in tears when he reached the location and realised that she had died.

“Mi never know if she burn up or what, but when mi come in a di taxi, mi hear that mi daughter burn up in the fire ... . I heard she was sleeping and somebody came and throw a bottle bomb through the window,” Kowen said. “She was nice, good-looking, jovial.”

St Mary Central Member of Parliament Dr Morais Guy described the incident as tragic, adding that it was having a traumatic effect on the community. He said that from a constituency level, efforts will be made to assist the family to rebuild the house.

“It’s really a sad, sad, sad occasion. I want to extend condolences for what happened,” Guy told The Gleaner.