Witness recounts desperate bid to flee burning house
At the commencement of the trial of Gavin Graham who is accused of causing the death of three persons after allegedly setting their house ablaze, the sister of one of the victims tearfully recounted the tragedy.
On the witness stand yesterday afternoon before Justice Sandil Kissoon and the jury hearing the case, Candacey Buelow recalled the fiery death her sister Nizoge Abrams met on the night of January 2nd, 2015.
Graham has been accused of causing the death of Abrams, as well as Clifford Sampson and Shawn Whyte, by burning the Lot 6036 ‘C’ Field Sophia house in which the three persons lived.
In her testimony during which she sobbed uncontrollably at times, a Buelow said that owing to conversations she had with her now dead sister, she had reason to repeatedly “warn” Abrams about Graham with whom she (Abrams) shared a relationship.
The woman said that on the fateful night sometime after 10, she was sitting in her apartment which is among a number of others located in the same yard as her sister’s.
She said that sometime after, she noticed a fiery glare from beneath her door, immediately followed by the sounds of two loud explosions and her sister screaming for her mother.
She said she ran outside to see what was happening when she saw her sister’s apartment completely engulfed.
Overcome with emotions, Buelow recalled some of the other occupants of the house jumping through the window to escape the blaze.
She said her mother who was in the same apartment threw her (Buelow’s) small son and nephew through the window to safety.
Breaking down on the stand at this point, the woman recalled that she pleaded with her stepfather Clifford Sampson to also jump through the window.
“Daddy jump, daddy jump,” she said she urged him.
But the witness sadly said that this would have been a difficult feat for the man who suffered from a stroke in one leg and walked with a limp.
She said he tried, but could not make it out of the burning building.
She related that the badly burnt trio was rushed to the Georgetown Public Hospital, but despite efforts, their lives could not be saved.
Buelow said that just before the fire started she had heard the dogs barking incessantly and decided to venture outside to see what was wrong but said she neither heard nor saw anything amiss.
She told the court that she then went back inside and just then heard the explosion and saw the fire coming from her sister’s apartment.
Also testifying yesterday were police officers Jermaine Grant, Patrick Benjamin and Kerwin Osbourne.
Grant, a crime scene investigator, recalled visiting and processing the scene at which he saw the badly burnt trio.
Benjamin, meanwhile, testified of taking a number of photographs of the scene and the burnt individuals.
Those photos were tendered and admitted in evidence, as was the postmortem reports which were tendered through Osbourne.
The trial continues this afternoon at 1 at the High Court in Georgetown.
Graham is being represented by attorney Ravindra Mohabier, while the state’s case is being presented by Prosecutor Tiffini Lyken.