The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

TWO close male relatives of a baby, who was burned beyond recognition in a house fire on Tuesday night, were still being questioned by police yesterday as they continued to investigate the tragedy.

Superintendent Stephen Dean told The Tribune that while the two men were assisting police with their probe, no arrests had been made.

However, Mr Dean said if criminal charges were warranted, police would consult the Attorney General’s Office to ensure the law was carried out.

He said: “We have two close relatives of the child in custody assisting us, but at this point there have not been any arrests in the death of the infant.”

Shock waves rippled throughout an Elizabeth Estates neighbourhood earlier this week when the home at St Vincent Avenue where the child lived was gutted by fire. He and his six-year-old brother, who escaped, were alone at the residence on Tuesday night when the blaze started.

Neighbours said the baby boy was around five-months-old.

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

Ms Rolle told The Tribune that her relatives were alerted after a child’s screams were heard attracting attention to the smoke rising from the house.

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

Ms Rolle said the six-year-old boy was distraught and had to be pulled away from the scene by her brother.

“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.”

Once residents realised a baby was inside, she said, it was too late as the raging flames 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 said she could not confirm whether or not an adult was at home, however, no one was there when she and her brothers tried to rescue the infant. Several area residents also said the children were alone.

Fire Services officials could not be reached up to press time to comment on whether their investigations yielded a definitive cause of the fire.

Residents identified the children’s mother as Kimberley Miller. Ms Miller was said to be at work when the fire broke out, but witnesses said she returned home as police were trying to extinguish the blaze.

Both Ms Miller and her brother were overcome with grief, Ms Rolle told The Tribune.