Billary charged with Arson

His two young nephews were almost burnt to death in a fire that destroyed his sister’s house on Hibiscus Lane on Sunday morning. And although it is still not clear if thirty-six year old Ernest Billary is mentally fit to stand trial, today police charged him with arson. Chief Magistrate Margaret McKenzie denied him bail and remanded him to Hattieville Prison until February fourteenth. Billary had just been released from jail two days earlier and told his sister Dawn that he would stay at her house until he got a chance to go to one of the cayes. She said he became irate when she told him that he couldn’t stay at her place and that was when he threatened to burn down the house. Dawn said a neighbour saw her brother running away from the house just before her son discovered the fire. That sixteen year old young man, also named Ernest, went back into the burning house to rescue his two younger brothers. The total losses in the fire are estimated at around seventy thousand dollars. Neither the concrete building nor contents were covered by insurance.