A Layou man whose house was gutted by fire Friday night is wondering if it is part of the violence that has seen several persons shot in Betromy recently.
Bertram Lyscott, 50, lost the 12 x 18 foot wooden house that he has called home for the past 27 years, after a few years of homelessness.
He told iWitness News on Saturday that he was at a shop sometime before 8 p.m. when someone told him the house was on fire.
When he got close to the blazing house, he heard an explosion, which he concluded was the gas cylinder.
“It’s a board house. An old antique too. I don’t know who burn it or whatever.
“How the area running with gun shots in this ghetto, I don’t know,” he said, adding that while he can’t accuse anyone in particular, he believes that the house was set afire.
“I was not cooking or anything like that,” he said, adding that the house does not have electricity and there was no lit candle or lamp inside
By the time the fire truck — which reportedly was involved in an accident in Buccament on its way to Layou – arrived from Kingstown, the fire had destroyed the house.
“I lose everything,” Lyscott said.
He said he could not say definitely that the fire was related to the shootings in the area.
“Thursday, police came and search up say I hold gun for [people], but I don’t know about that. And look, Friday night my house light afire,” he said.
Now that the house was destroyed he is back on the street, Lyscott told iWitness News.
“I been on the road stranded a couple years. So a good friend, since his old lady died, he gave me the house to live in,” he said, adding that the house has provided accommodation to many over the years.
“I have no clothes or nothing,” Lyscott further said as he lamented his loss. He said that while the house was small he had a lot of good quality clothes and 21 pairs of shoes, many of which were sent to him from overseas.
“I poor. I does call myself Brother Ebony. But is now me ah Brother Ebony. But ah now me poor now. Because watch me now,” he told iWitness News, adding that the only thing he was able to save was the clothes he was wearing.
Lyscott was referring to calypsonians Fitzroy “Brother Ebony” Ebony who sang a song, “Nothing At All” in 2012, in which he outlined that he has nothing to show for his years in the art form.
In early June, a resident of Layou expressing concern to iWitness News over what he described as “a spate of shootings in my once peaceful community of Layou.”
“I feel something bad is brewing in my home [town] of Layou that will eventually result in death because I don’t feel these shootings are mere coincidence,” he told iWitness News.
At least five persons have been shot in Layou since March 14, in what residents of the town believe are reprisal acts of violence.
Poor soul
It wasnt so long ago we walk those streets day and night without fear, my God… when and how did we come to this?
One day at a time, Esther, one day at a time is how we got from there to here. All over the Caribbean is the same thing.
I grew up in layou my beautiful home town and things like this never happened what the heck is going on
Esther and Colleen, do you remember the fable about a frog being slowly boiled alive? The premise is that if a frog is put suddenly into boiling water, it will jump out, but if the frog is put into tepid water which is then brought to a boil slowly, it will not perceive the danger and will be cooked to death.
So it has been with all crimes in our country for the past 40 years which, except for the theft of agricultural produce, were relatively low to begin with.
Like the fabled frog, we are slowly being boiled to death as the crime rate keeps inching up every year.
For the causes of this increase, you could do a bit of searching and reading on the Internet to find different professional and academic explanations.
Of course, if you prefer a supernatural interpretation, you could always invoke the will of Ulmighty God punishing His people for their wickedness.