Family Dispute Causes Arson in Ladyville
A domestic dispute among members of a Ladyville family has resulted in the alleged torching of a property in the Milpa Site area of the village. According to thirty-four-year-old Lorna Bardalez, she woke up shortly before midnight on Thursday and discovered that an adjacent wooden structure belonging to her cousin was on fire. The small plywood house was occupied by twenty-seven-year-old Calvin Palma. While he was not at home at the time of the blaze, responders to the scene of the fire could not save any of the household items that were inside the residence. Bardalez says that her relatives have been embroiled in a bitter argument, following a business transaction that has since turned sour. This morning, she recounted what transpired when she woke up to the house on fire.
Voice of: Lorna Bardalez, Neighbor
“I believe that my cousin Phillip Palma Jr. da di one who come and arson my step-grandpa house due to wah family matter with my notha cousin Calvin Palma, concerning a money relationship and that they have both situation. How yo woulda seh, dehn doing their own thing and one gaan head fi collect money from the next one then di next one go collect money from the next one and di notha one, ih look like dehn noh like it soh he get sohn net from outta my house and ih ker it cross da my step-grandpa house. Then Phillip Palma come and di ask fi di net ova and ova, which I know da mi my faulty but I neva di home when Calvin get di net and ker it cross da my step-grandpa. Ova and ova I tell ahn fi give ahn back di net and he seh ih noh wahn give ahn back di net because Phillip have money for ahn. When Phillip do come to me and tell me bout di net, I tell ahn that Calvin seh ih have money fu give ahn then ih wahn give you back di net. Well so far, fi whole ah last week, we just di back and forth with it. Three days now Calvin gaan da Belize. Phillip meet me yesterday when I mi gwein da my mother-in-law and he ask me if Calvin bring back di net and I tell ahn no. My common-law tell ahn no. We just continue fu we way. When I cohn home like after eleven, my daughter tell me that Phillip mi come cross and ih mi di ask bout the net and start to cuss up and, you know, behave bad. So we just leff it like that. Up to last night ten o‘clock, di house mi di deh because my daughter gaan and put two cucumber juice eena di deep freeze cross deh. And from deh so we come cross and I gaan bathe and I gaan sleep. When I mi wahn pee pee I get up round eleven forty-one when I do check di phone and then I sih di house deh pan blaze a fyah.”
Isani Cayetano
Isani Cayetano
“So you ended up calling the police and the fire service?”
Voice of: Lorna Bardalez
“Well I call Ladyville Police Station, but when I call, dehn tell me the fyah truck mi done deh pan di way. I guess dah di neighbor da back mussi sih di fyah, cause dehn sleep late and then dehn call before I coulda mi mek it fi call. But when di fyah truck do cohn di house mi done destroyed. Dehn mi couldn‘t do nothing else bout it.”
The value of the property and the items inside has not been determined.
