A Flanagin Town labourer died after he was doused with gasoline and set on fire by a 47-year-old woman, who has a protection order against him, after he allegedly entered her house armed with a cutlass.However, villagers and relatives at the tranquil village of Brasso Piedra where Churchill James, 54, and the woman lived expressed shock over the incident. They described James as a good and helpful man. He was employed at the Chaguanas Borough Corporation.
Yesterday the woman, a labourer, and a man who was with her when the incident took place were interviewed at the Brasso Police Station. The woman remained in police custody last night.Police said around 10.30 pm on Saturday the woman was at her home in company with a man when James jumped her front gate armed with a cutlass.Police said he opened the front door and attempted to enter her house.
Investigators said the woman then emptied the gas from a brushcutter into a container and threw it on James before she took a lighter and set him ablaze.James who was still at the front door ran into the yard and fell into a drain. The woman then threw a bucket of water on him to douse the fire.The injured man was taken by ambulance to the Chaguanas Hospital where he died while undergoing emergency surgery.
When Guardian visited the district yesterday, James' relatives said they only found out about the incident when the police came to their home yesterday morning.And as word spread through the village, residents said they were shocked.Wiping tears away, a villager said the woman moved into the village less than two years ago, but James, who has one child, lived there all his life.
"When he drink he is be a little miserable, but he was not violent. People said they saw him on the road with a bottle of rum in his hand, he was drinking, just before the incident. He did not have a cutlass on him.""Nobody knew anything. I ask the neighbours if they hear anything, any bawling, and they say no," one villager, who asked not to be identified, said.
She said James and the woman shared a close relationship but they broke it off about four months ago and she took out a restraining order.She said the villagers were preparing to hold a wake for him last night.His cousin, who lives abroad and did not want to give her name, said the family was shocked.She said James lived alone but over last few days he spent a lot of time with her.
"I don't know my cousin to be violent, My cousin was the most gentle, warm, caring person, a soft person. He was always nice and kind to people.""Except when he drink and he had a few, and he had a few yesterday," said another relative.She said her cousin picked oranges and brought coconut water for her and they were going to make pastelles. She said she was worried all night because she had not seen him and she knew he had been drinking.
Visiting the scene were Snr Supt Johnny Abraham, Supt Adams, Sgt Jitendra Toolaram and other officers of Homicide Bureau.An autopsy is expected to be performed today at the Forensic Science Centre, Port-of-Spain.