Squib burns down Linden businesswoman’s shop

Last Updated on Saturday, 26 December 2015, 21:00 by GxMedia

A Linden businesswoman is entering the New Year without her only means of livelihood because a squib resulted in her small shop being burnt down.

May Anthony says remnants of a squib among the charred remains of her shop at the Mackenzie Bus park proves the cause of the fire. She recalled being at church when she received information that her shop was engulfed in flames.
Anthony accused a police sergeant at the scene of failing to arrest several other persons nearby who were lighting squibs and even throwing it on passerby. “The police operate in a weak manner. People continued to throw squibs-these big bombs- and he arrested no one,” she told Demerara Waves Online News.

She said the squib entered her premises through the top of the door and caught on paper and clothing

The woman lamented that everything in the shop has been destroyed at a time when she has to finance her son’s sitting of CXC exams, a mortgage, fire insurance and stall rent among other expenses. “Everything gone, nothing is left. That’s all I depend on,” she said.

She could not immediately estimate her total losses but noted that they included a brand new freezer, a showcase as well as clothing and other items for sale. Important documents, she said, were also destroyed.

“I glad if the government can look into the squib sellers,” she said, adding that the owner of a nearby shop that sells squibs abused and threatened to stab her son because he overheard her saying that a squib was the cause of the blaze.