Nearly one week after burning two houses at Da Silva and De Abreu Streets, Newtown, Georgetown following a heated argument with his wife, Kerwin Jervis, 44, is expected to appear in court on Monday morning.
Jervis’s alleged actions on Tuesday last caused some 10 persons to become homeless. Investigators are working with the theory that he deliberately set his home on fire after accusing his wife of infidelity.
INews reported last week that Jervis arrived at the wooden and concrete house located on the eastern half of the property and argued with his wife, Joanne, whom he reportedly wed in January this year.
Neighbours said he threatened to kill his wife before he dealt her several cuffs about the body before reportedly dousing her with a liquid believed to be gasoline. Police said that he also sprinkled the substance around the house from a Busta (soft drink) bottle, which suggested that the arson was planned.
Before the ordeal could come to a violent end, the woman had managed to escape the attempt on her life by jumping out of a window after which she fell to the ground, which was laced with pieces of broken glass.
The suspect set the house alight around 22:30h, before he fled the scene. His wife received cuts and bruises, and was immediately rushed to a city hospital, where she was treated, but she subsequently left the medical institution and went into hiding, as her husband was at that time still not apprehended.
However, the hunt for the suspected arsonist came to an end on Thursday night after Jervis surrendered himself at the Brickdam Police Station in Georgetown.
The Jervis’ neighbours were not spared from the inferno’s wrath. Adonie Orderson and her three children were home at the time and they lost everything apart from a few important documents. Orderson’s tenant, a male who lived in the lower flat, also suffered losses.
Jervis was said to be a drummer at the Princes Street church which the couple attended. His wife has two children from a previous marriage and owned the house, along with her brother.
