8-y-o boys perish in house fire; guardians taken into custody
Published:Friday | December 13, 2024 | 6:18 AMAdrian Frater/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The guardians of the two eight-year-old boys who perished in a fire that destroyed their Westmoreland home early Thursday morning have been taken into custody.
Early indications suggest that the boys, Jamar Reid and Romaine Powell, had been left alone at their home in Culloden in Whitehouse, Westmoreland, when tragedy struck.
Their charred remains were found by firefighters conducting cooling-down operations.
Both were students at New Hope Primary and Junior High, also in Westmoreland.
Superintendent Othniel Dobson, the police commander for Westmoreland, told The Gleaner that an adult male and an adult female had been taken into custody. It is understood that they are relatives, but not parents, of the children.
Residents of Culloden appeared devastated at the tragedy.
“While I don’t know all the details, I cannot understand what could have caused two adults to leave these two children on their own, especially knowing that boys tend to be mischievous,” said one male resident.
During yesterday’s monthly meeting of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation, Michael Jackson, the councillor for the Whitehouse division, which includes Culloden, asked fellow councillors to join in a minute of silence to honour the memory of the boys, while calling on parents to take their parenting responsibilities seriously.
“My plea is for parents to be more responsible when it comes to the safety of the children in their care,” said Jackson. “I know that in the midst of trying to make that honest bread, sometime risks are taken, but these risks must be within the confines of the law, and they must be well calculated.”
While not speaking to this specific tragedy, Oniel Henry, the divisional head of the Westmoreland Division of the Jamaica Fire Brigade, also urged parents to be cautious with the use of candles and to be wary about the danger illegally extracted electricity poses to homes.
Yesterday’s incident marks the second time in recent months that the guardian of a a child who perished in a fire was taken into custody by the Westmoreland police.
In April, Sherone McDonald, the mother of eight-year-old Jahmiel Richardson, was taken into custody by the police after her child perished in a fire at their Grange Hill home. The child was alone when the fire broke out about 11:40 p.m. The deceased child was a student at the Peggy Barry Primary School, also in Westmoreland.