Children’s inheritance from their late father goes up in smoke

A building inherited by two teenagers when their father died four years ago has been mysteriously reduced to ashes.

Ottley Hall resident Hyacinth Charles told SEARCHLIGHT she was “shocked” when she saw the house her children were meant to inherit burnt to the ground along with the memories of their late father.

Charles, along with her 19- and 17-year-old children frequently visits a house in Pauls Avenue that belonged to her late ex-boyfriend Leslie Bobb.

She said that before he passed away four years ago, he passed on the wooden house to his children.

Charles told SEARCHLIGHT on Tuesday that the last time she spent at the house was the night before the house went up in flames. She had gone there to conduct her regular inspection.

However, at 8 o’clock the next morning, August 14, she met the entire house reduced to bits and pieces of wood.

She said she was told that the fire started at 3 am., but no one seemed to know it started.

Charles said there were no items such as candles in the house that were capable of starting a fire, nor was there any evidence on the scene that could have pointed to the cause of the fire’s ignition.

“I don’t know if anybody was smoking in the area and they dropped some fire and they took it for nothing and it catch something. I don’t know if it’s electrical problems. I don’t know,” she said.

Charles spoke to SEARCHLIGHT on the same day of the fire. She said she had not yet told her children about what had transpired, and they would be “surprised and sad” upon hearing the news, especially her son, who was eager to have the house for himself.

She said the hardest part about losing the house was the memories that were attached to it.

“His pictures, his clothes…and he been build a cupboard, he been cherishing it and so on,” she added, listing some of the memories that were consumed in the flames.

Charles continued that the situation is especially sad because the house had been left for her ex by his father, and he had worked diligently to fix it for his children.

“He worked hard and he not too long repaired it. He always say what he has is for the children and them.”

However, Charles and her children weren’t the only people affected. by Tuesday’s incident. The fire jolted the next door neighbour out of her sleep causing her to escape her house, leaving everything behind as the fire had caught onto her house and damaged her window.

Along with the neighbour’s house, a nearby wooden shop also succumbed to the flames. Though the shop wasn’t burnt to the ground, it was badly damaged.

Neighbors have confirmed that Charles had been looking after the house ever since the death of her ex.

Charles said that she has already contacted the police to help ascertain the cause of the fire.