On Tuesday November 8th 2022 at about 10:00 pm, Pearly McLean along with her grandson,Jelanie, went to bed thinking it was just going to be a regular night. At approximately 11:30pm Pearly was awoken to the sound of something thrown onto her porch/veranda. She went to her grandson, Jelanie, to ask if he heard anything. When Jelanie said no, they went back to bed.
Not long after, Pearly was woken up one last time to a crackling sound. She went to check in her grandson’s room but he was asleep. It was at that time she saw a huge fire on the veranda.
Without thinking of putting out the blaze, she first had to ensure that Jelanie was awake. In horror, she tried to turn the breaker off before the fire got inside. She screamed for help but no one heard as everyone had already retired to bed for the night.
She then ran outside calling for help. When a neighbor finally came, the fire had gotten bigger and started spreading inside the house. She had tried to use a hose but it couldn’t tame the destructive blaze.
Within minutes, the fire engulfed the entire house burning everything in its path. Everything Pearly and her daughter (Natasha) had worked for. Apart from the structure itself, there were losses of five industrial sewing machines and industrial surging machines, family heirloom machinery, compressor that was used for upholstery work, other machinery and equipment, Jelanie’s computer for school , other electronics, finished products that were for sale, raw materials and a fully furnished house as well as the car that they used for transportation of sales from the self-owned business.
It is sad to know that this family lives peacefully in their community and someone intentionally waited for them to be asleep to set the house ablaze for it to burn to the ground.
Based on observation the house and car were drenched in gasoline before they were lit as the crowd watched the fire make a perfect blue flamed circle around the vehicle in two seconds before it blew up.
Destroying one’s property is horrid, but threatening innocent lives is utterly odious. Sadly, this is the Jamaica we have come to know. Why someone would do this is just discombobulating. It is nothing but pure evil.
Pearly, Natasha, Jelanie and Esaias (toddler) live together in Wakefield Trelawny. Natasha and Esaias were away.
This family of four has nothing. Not even a needle from the sewing room was saved!
Subsequently, a 58 years old woman, a 40 years old mother of a 14 years old boy and the baby will have to suffer these losses and start life over AGAIN as EVERYTHING is gone!