Catholic church building broken into, fires set
Thieves broke and entered a building which houses the Roman Catholic Church on Friday after which they lit a number of small fires before carting off several items.
The incident took place sometime last Friday night at Lot 222 South Road and Wellington Street, Georgetown. The building is owned by the Roman Catholic Church. It houses the Catholic Youth office and the Catholic Media office which puts together the well-known Catholic Standard newspaper
Stabroek News understands that the caretakers of the premises were awakened by strange noises and the smell of smoke. Upon checking, they noticed that the buttom flat of the building had been broken into and a desk situated in the reception area had been ransacked.
A number of items including a bicycle were stolen.
A police source yesterday told Stabroek News that an investigation is ongoing into the incident. No arrest/s has yet been made.
The incident has forced those in charge of the premises to beef up security.
In a telephone interview with this newspaper yesterday, Head of the Roman Catholic Church, Bishop Francis Alleyne said that the lower flat of the building was being renovated.
The Bishop related that the caretakers were “disturbed by the smell of smoke and some noise… The police came and what they found was evidence of a number of fires and they photographed all of that,” he said.
According to the Bishop, it appears as though the fires were not set to destroy the building but rather to provide light for the perpetrators. “The nature of the fire looks like they lit them to give light…..they tried to light a fire on top of a desk. I hardly think the intention was for the desk to catch fire though,” he said.
This is the second such instance.
The first was in October, 2018. On that occasion, the thieves ransacked other sections of the building including the Youth office and stole several items including a projector, computers and some tools.