Mentally ill woman attempts fiery suicide

Last Updated on Sunday, 28 September 2014, 22:43 by GxMedia

A woman, believed to be of unsound mind, on Sunday sustained severe burns about her body in an attempt to commit suicide at her home in a depressed area of Georgetown.

She is 45-year old Dianne Speedy of 17 D’Urban Backlands located behind the Chinese Embassy. Hospital sources said the woman sustained second and third degree burns.

Sources said residents managed to rescue the woman from her wooden dwelling and extinguish the flames before fire fighters arrived on the scene.

According to sources, Speedy was on a mattress where she started the fire shortly after 2 PM. The internal walls of the bedroom were damaged. The fire did not spread to nearby buildings.

Speedy was up to Sunday night in a conscious condition at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) where doctors were due to assess her condition before she undergoes surgery.

The woman’s poverty-stricken community has been in the spotlight several times. Residents there complain of the squalor in which they live and no one in authority appears willing to address their plight.