By Nalinee Seelal Saturday, September 15 2012

An elderly couple were forced to flee their burning house after gang members threw a molotov cocktail inside their home while they slept early yesterday at Pump Trace, Laventille.

The inside of the house was completely destroyed and the value of the items destroyed is yet to be ascertained. According to police reports at about 4.30 am yesterday Cynthia Yearwood, 61, and her 77-year- old husband, Cardinal Seaton, were asleep at their home at Eastern Quarry, Pump Trace, Laventille, when they were alerted by a noise coming from a window. On checking Yearwood saw two masked men with a rod lighting item inside her house. She was ordered back into the house by the two men who were armed with guns.

According to reports, Yearwood managed to get her husband to safety, by moving him to a section of the house where the fire had not yet spread. She managed to alert the Besson Street Police and CID officers led by Acting ASP Ajith Persad and Sgt Springer along with other officers contacted the Belmont Fire Station under Fire Station Officer Brown and a search was carried out for the suspects, but to no avail. According to reports when the Fire officers arrived on the scene the inside of the house was already gutted and the elderly couple were taken to a relative’s home. Police officers carried out several searches and an exercise in the area with the hope of flushing out the suspects, but they were not found.

Police were however informed that the incident may have been sparked over gang-related activities involving relatives of the elderly couple, and gang members.

Officers of the Besson Street CID are continuing investigations.