Heart-wrenching - Cockburn Gardens mourns after three children die in blaze
Published:Saturday | January 27, 2018 | 12:00 AMCorey Robinson
It was heart-wrenching and painful as residents reacted with shock and disbelief as they looked at what was left of a house on Booby Drive in Cockburn Gardens, St Andrew, where three children lost their lives last Friday night.
Grieving relatives identified the dead children as twins Juvanie Bennett and Jevanie Bennett, two years old; and their three-year-old niece, Crisharge Maxwell, who is also part of a twin. Her sibling was hospitalised, but there was no word from the medical people up to press time.
According to the relatives, the mother of the twin boys left them among four children at home under the supervision of her 18-year-old daughter, who is Crisharge's mother, while she went to work at a fast-food outlet.
It is alleged that the 18-year-old then decided to leave the children in the care of her 13-year-old sister to attend a party. The 13-year-old reportedly lit a candle in the room and left the four young ones sleeping while she went outside to talk to friends.
FIVE-YEAR-OLD RESCUED
Minutes later, a thud was heard and soon after, flames and smoke were seen coming from the concrete and wooden house.
The teenager managed to save her five-year-old brother and Crisharge's twin sister, who were seriously injured in the fire, but efforts to rescue the other three children were unsuccessful.
"It is a family yard and everybody have them differences. The only piece of furniture she saved was a TV, and that was because it was over my yard," said Stacy, who identified herself as a relative and one of the persons living in the yard.
"They are good mothers, and both of them loved their children. They would die for their children. Them really don't deserve this," said Stacy as she told our news team that she was at the party with the 18-year-old when they received news of the fire.
Yesterday, the police said that they were questioning both mothers in connection with the deaths of the children, but Stacy and other relatives questioned whether the father of two of the children, who was at a friend's house metres away, would be questioned as well.
"To tell you the truth, the woman work very hard, and she work very late at nights, and because is she alone working, it really stresses her out more time," said another relative.