Man lives in fowl coop - Mother wants help for son accused of setting her house on fire

A woman from Victoria, Clarendon, has nowhere to put her head after her house was burnt to the ground, allegedly by her son.

Agatha Lovelace, a vendor, told THE STAR that she was selling in the May Pen market on January 2, when she heard that her six-room house was on fire.

Lovelace, 66, told THE STAR that her 39-year-old son, who lives in a fowl coop in the yard, was upset that she told a woman who he brought into the fowl coop to leave her property.

"Me never know seh him have a woman weh live inna the fowl coop with him. So, the morning [January 1], me wash and a put out some clothes when me hear shuffling in the coop. When me go look, is a person foot me see a shuffle up, so me step inside quicker because me did want to know a who. When me see the person, me tell her to go home to her parents. I really don't know if a little girl or big woman because she so tiny, so me send her home," Lovelace said.

Lovelace said that she occupied the house with her son and granddaughter until a year ago, when he decided to leave the home and move into the fowl coop.

She said that her son, who came back to the yard around 6 o'clock that evening, started to behave violently towards her because she told the woman to leave. Lovelace also said that she made a report to the police about her son's behaviour later that night.

"The police dem tell me seh dem nah lock him up, dem a go tek him to the hospital fi check him out. So, me never know seh him get weh and come back a me yaad," she said.

UNWILLING TO COOPERATE

Checks with the police revealed that mental health practitioners were taken to Victoria to help Lovelace's son, but he ran away.

An investigator told THE STAR that persons have been unwilling to cooperate with the police out of fear that they may be harmed.

Meanwhile, Lovelace said that since her house has been burnt, she has been staying with a neighbour.

"A years me a work pan me house. It a move from a two-room house to six rooms. The things dem weh me sell a May Pen, the little kerchief dem and things burn. Everything gone. Me just haffi put the best outside because me nuh want it get to me head," she said.

Lovelace told THE STAR that even though she no longer has a house, she would like to get some help for her son as he appears to be of unsound mind.

"I would really like him to get some help. Both of us need help because he is saying some things, and I no longer have a house," she said.

Persons wishing to assist Agatha Lovelace may contact her at 379-1005.