Child, 6, sets house on fire while playing with matches

A Mahaicony, East Coast Demerara family is now homeless after a six-year-old child who was playing with a box of matches set fire to their two-story wooden and concrete home.

The fire, according to police, occurred at around 09:00hrs on Thursday.

The victim, 33-year-old Odessa Limerick of Calcutta, Mahaicony told police that she left her six-year-old son with her reputed husband at home at around 06:00hrs and went to work.

Around 09:30hrs, the woman said she received a phone call from her aunt who said that her house was on fire.

When she arrived, the woman was met with her house completely engulfed in flames.

Fire tenders from the Mahaica Fire Station were summoned to the scene and managed to extinguish the blaze.

Police said that the young lad who was questioned in the presence of his parent stated that he went over to his aunt’s house and picked up a box of matches and took it home. He then used it to light the mattress in the backroom of the upper flat a fire.

Investigations are continuing.