Man charged for setting St James woman on fire
Published:Wednesday | June 12, 2019 | 12:08 AMHopeton Bucknor/Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The St James police have arrested and charged the man who allegedly doused 74-year-old Evelyn Blair, of Lima district, St James, with a flammable liquid and then set her on fire following a failed attempt to rape her.
She subsequently died of her injuries.
Arrested and charged is Nickala Facey, a labourer of the same community.
Facey, who is believed to be in his late 40s, was known to Blair. He is now in custody at the Freeport Police Station in Montego Bay.
The killing of Blair jolted the community of Lima, where she was fondly remembered as a kind Christian woman and church prayer warrior.
According to reports, shortly after 3 a.m. on Thursday, May 25, Blair was in her one-bedroom board house when Facey allegedly broke in and tried to rape her. She managed to ward him off and rushed for a machete. Facey fled the scene. Following the incident, Blair telephoned her daughter and gave her an account of what had transpired. About 6:30 a.m., the elderly woman left her home to visit her daughter’s house.
Attacked while walking
While walking along the road, she was allegedly attacked by Facey, who doused her with a liquid, believed to be gasolene, and set her on fire.
Blair ran off towards her daughter’s house but collapsed just outside the gate. Her daughter ran to her assistance with a bucket of water, which she used to put out the fire. She was rushed to Cornwall Regional Hospital, where she died two days later.
Facey was picked up in Lima last Saturday and placed before an identification parade on Saturday. He was pointed out by an eyewitness, who allegedly saw him setting Blair on fire.