The quiet community of Sobo Village, La Brea, was shaken yesterday morning by arson and murder which claimed the life of female security guard Marilyn George. Police said George, 36, was reportedly tied up in her home which was also set on fire. There was also an attempt to burn down her house last Carnival Tuesday. Her charred remains were found in the corner of a bedroom. George was not married. She had no children and lived alone. Neighbour said they heard a loud explosion around 4.45 am. They thought the explosion was gunshots but that was when the fire started. The cause of her death and the fire are yet to be determined. Police are awaiting the result of an autopsy to determine whether George, an Amalgamated security guard, who had been attached to the Point Fortin Hospital, was killed and then set ablaze or whether she died in the fire.
At the scene yesterday, George’s father, Kenneth Thomas, looked on in disbelief as undertakers removed the charred remains of his eldest daughter. George’s mother, Catherine Paul, was too distraught to speak and had to be assisted by two female relatives. With tears in his eyes, the grieving father of nine said: “That is my Father’s Day boy? That is my Father’s Day I get.” He said his daughter did not call him for Father’s Day which was unusual. Saying he knew something was wrong, Thomas ran to his daughter’s home, one street away from his, praying she was all right when two men informed him her home was on fire. “When I saw the fire, I say I hope my daughter not in there. As they break the galvanise, I see from she knee. I say I hope that is not my daughter. I know my daughter wouldn’t stay there and take that heat. I say something was wrong,” Thomas said. Police on the scene said a neighbour last saw George alive around 8.25 am on Sunday.
Her cousin and neighbour, Lenora Charles, told the T&T Guardian she was asleep when she heard a loud explosion and a scream around 2.45 am. “I come outside and went to the back of my house and looked around. The dog was barking. My son say he hear a gunshot. I tell him shut up and go inside. Then I hear him shout ‘mammy look aunty Marilyn house on fire,’” Charles said.
Charles called George’s cellphone but got no response. She followed it up with a call to the Point Fortin Hospital. “I start to bawl,” she said. She said her husband ran to George’s house but it was already engulfed in flames. Charles said it was not the first time an attempt was made to burn down George’s home. She said the first attempt was made on Carnival Tuesday but George was able to bring that fire under control. However, Charles said George never told her if she was being threatened. Supt Cecil Harry is heading investigations.