The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Chief Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

RESIDENTS of a neighbourhood in Elizabeth Estates were in shock yesterday following the death of an infant who was found burnt beyond recognition in a house gutted by fire on Tuesday night.

The baby and his six-year-old brother were alone at the Elizabeth Estates home when the incident occurred on Tuesday night, according to reports.  

According to area residents, the infant boy was believed to be around five months old.

A witness, who wanted to be identified only as Ms Rolle, said she was visiting her mother for a family prayer meeting when the tragedy occurred.

She told The Tribune that she alerted her family after a child’s screams brought attention to the smoke rising from the home at St Vincent Avenue.

“I had just gone into the back room to get something, and I heard this child screaming,” she said.

“I looked at the time because I thought he was being punished, but I thought who beating a child this time of night? So I peeked through the window, and when I looked out I saw the smoke coming from the house and that’s when I ran out to the front and let my family know the house was on fire.

“(The six-year-old boy) was distraught, he was just standing there,” Ms Rolle, 53, told The Tribune yesterday. “My brother had to run over there and pull him away from it, and we kept asking him ‘Is there anybody else in the house?’ He said no and then after a while he calmed down and remembered that the baby was in the house.”

She said once residents realised a baby was inside, it was too late as the flames had engulfed the structure.

“At one point he grabbed on to my hand, he was trying to show me where the baby was because he pulled me around to the back of the house and said ‘No that’s not the room, it’s the next room.’ But the fire moved very quickly, when the guys tried (to get in) the place was crazy.”

Ms Rolle’s mother’s home is across the street from the burned home.

She said she could not confirm whether or not an adult was in the home at the time of the incident, however, no one was there when she and her brothers tried to rescue the infant. Several area residents also said the children were alone.

Officials had not yet determined the cause of the fire up to press time. Investigations are continuing.

Residents identified the children’s mother as Kimberley Miller. She was reportedly at work at the time of the fire, but witnesses said that she came home as police were trying to extinguish the blaze.

Ms Rolle said that both Ms Miller and her brother were overcome with grief.

She added: “It’s bothered me, I couldn’t sleep last night. I can still hear the little boy crying out in my head, it was just a distraught cry. I’m praying for the family.”