‘Granny set fire to shack in a rage’
Family say elderly woman unaware her grandson was asleep inside
THE family of an octogenarian who allegedly killed her grandson when she set fire to a shack in a drunken rage said she was unaware the teenager was asleep inside at the time.
Chuthiwe Dlamini Blom, 82, was arrested at the weekend after allegedly setting alight a four-room shack erected in the backyard of her property.
Blom’s daughter, Lulama Dyanbooi, 43, said yesterday: “I have shed a lot of tears. I will miss him [Awonke, 15, who died in the fire] terribly. He was my last-born child, which makes me so sad.”
According to Lulama’s eldest son, Siyabulela, Blom allegedly started the blaze as she believed one of the people living in the shack had stolen her food.
Speaking from the family’s home in Elijah Street, Area O, yesterday, Siyabulela, who does not live at the house, said Blom suffered from mental illness which caused her to act strangely when she drank alcohol.
Lulama said she had been unaware Awonke was home at the time of the fire as he had gone out earlier that day.
“I cannot say what time he arrived back as I was already asleep,” she said. “He never let me know he was back – he must have gone straight to the back to sleep.”
Lulama was woken up by Blom early on Sunday morning and told to leave the shack as Blom allegedly wanted to burn it down because her food had been stolen by the people living in it.
Lulama grabbed her medication and important documents and quickly left the shack.
“She [Blom] checked in to see if Awonke was there, but did not see anything, by which time the fire had been started,” she said.
Siyabulela, who lives in Motherwell, but is staying with Lulama and his sister, Xoliswa Ndesi, to help them deal with the trauma, said they did not blame Blom.
Two other people, not family members, also lived in the shack.
“We didn’t want her [Blom] to be arrested, that is not going to help her situation,” Siyabulela said.
“I would say its depression which made her do it, but she needs help.”
He said his mother, who was unemployed and living off a social grant, had lost everything in the blaze.
Speaking about his brother, Siyabulela said: “He was such a sweet boy. He never attended school but would go around looking for odd jobs so he could buy food for the house.
Colonel Priscilla Naidu said Blom’s case had been postponed to August 21, pending a psychiatric evaluation. She will remain in police custody until then.
On Sunday, Naidu said Blom woke neighbours at about 4am and allegedly confessed what she had done.
Ward 4 councillor Ayanda Tyokwana said he had met the family earlier yesterday to pay his respects.
He said he would try to rally the community to raise money so Awonke could be given a dignified funeral.