Brickdam fire: Frustrated prisoner confesses to setting fire to police station

A 26-year-old man who was arrested early on Saturday for armed robbery has reportedly confessed to setting the fire which destroyed over 80 percent of the Brickdam Police Station.

Police Headquarters reported that Clarence Greene of Princes Street, Lodge, Georgetown told investigators during his confession on video that he was frustrated after being in the lockups for a couple of hours and so he set fire to the station.

During his alleged confession, Greene told investigators that he tore a piece of mattress from the cell, hooked it on a piece of wire, lit it with a cigarette lighter and pushed it through a ventilation hole in the cell at Brickdam.

After the buildings in the station compound caught fire, Greene and other prisoners were relocated to the Sparendaam Police Station. While at Sparendaam, Greene was placed in a cell with two other prisoners, who told investigators that Greene first confessed to them that he was behind the huge fire which destroyed the century old buildings.

“The duo said Greene told them that he took a piece of sponge, wrapped it up on a piece of wire which he lit and pushed it through a ventilation hole in the cell over to a part that had some documents and it catch afire,” the police reported.

While being questioned, Greene reportedly told investigators that one of the prisoners provided the piece of wire to help start the fire.

Meanwhile, the fire has severely affected the operations of the Brickdam Police Station. A number of services was moved to St Stanislaus College, but during a visit by President Irfaan Ali on Sunday morning, he tasked the Police Force to seek other temporary but permanent solutions; these include looking at the reconfiguration of containers to use as offices in the meantime.