Arson suspected in 71-year-old man’s death

Viclene Matthews 31.JULY.08

The quiet village of New Grounds, nestled in the constituency of South Central Windward was awakened last week Thursday night by the news that a house was on fire. After the dust was settled and heat cooled, Sonny Jackson was dead.{{more}}

The disabled man, who was badly burnt about his body, succumbed to his injuries on his way to the hospital. The 71-year-old lived alone in the one bedroom wooden house which caught afire at approximately 7 pm on Thursday, July 24.

Jackson, who was described as a friendly and quiet person, apparently crawled out of the searing heat, but was impeded by a fence that surrounds his yard.

Eyewitnesses told Searchlight that he was obviously in tremendous pain, and was trembling and groaning. According to reports, Sonny’s buttocks and several other areas about his body were severely burnt.



Joey Laborde (right)was at a shop when he first saw what appeared to him and others to be someone burning garbage. But upon closer inspection, they recognized it was Sonny’s home on fire. Realizing that he would be unable to help himself, Laborde and his friends ran towards the blaze to try and rescue Jackson.

Laborde recounted that when they arrived at the scene, they could not get very close to the house because the fire was so ‘red’. With no water available for them to subdue the fire, he decided to break a pipeline “to get the heat off the man”. He said they were unable to remove Sonny from where he was because of the severity of his burns, his “skin bin look so awful”. “His vest and underpants bin done burn up”, the young man expressed. Reports suggest that someone lit the house on fire, and police are presently questioning a suspect. Although he didn’t have any children of his own, those close to him are left wondering, why would anyone want Sonny dead?