Relatives: Suspect in boy’s fiery death ‘obsessed’
Written by Gregory Mc Burnie on January 28, 2025
Police are still searching for a man they believe may have critical information about the death of three-year-old Jereem George. The child died in a fire at his home in Christian Extension, Windy Hill, Arouca ,on January 23.
A man, whom Jereem’s mother knew well, went to the house shortly before midnight and tried to force his way in.
George’s mother Geeniel George tried to keep him out but he overpowered her and forced his way in. She ran next door to ask a male relative for help, but when she returned the house was on fire.
Jereem’s siblings managed to escape, but he was trapped and died in the blaze. Police said the fire is being treated as arson and homicide officers are investigating.
Speaking at a media briefing at the Police Administration Building, Port of Spain on January 27, ACP Richard Smith said North Central Division police are still investigating.
He said he was unsure what headway had been made in the search for the suspect but promised to give an update at a later date.
George’s relatives spoke to the media at the Forensic Science Centre in St James on January 27.
They told Newsday the man police are looking for has a history of violence and they described him as being “obsessed” with a relative of Jereem.
Relatives claimed they had filed three police reports against the man, but he was never apprehended.
“We made one just the week before (the fire). I was speaking to police on the phone and asked them to come and pick him up. But sometimes they come and he will disappear, and as soon as they gone, he comes back again,” a relative said.
None of the family wanted to be publicly identified.
Relatives said the suspect attacked a family member in July, leaving the victim hospitalised.
The family said they believe the suspect went to the house on Thursday night with the intention of hurting someone.
A relative said because of the way the bed was placed, the intruder would have seen the three-year-old child asleep in it.
“You trying to tell me he didn’t see that child on the bed there? He didn’t care,” a relative said.
Relatives said the man had made threats to a family member in the past and had admitted to spying on that relative at night.
They said no one in the family ever considered going to court to take a restraining order against the man.
“That would have been just a set of runaround. They tell us get a restraining order, but that not protecting anybody. That restraining order putting up a fence around you?
“You know many people in this country get killed and they had a restraining order? It’s almost as though that makes (the perpetrator) want to prove a point and say, ‘You feel that could stop me?’”
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