Man Sets Parents’ House On Fire

Richard Dara, a 28-year-old man who allegedly set his parents’ residence ablaze yesterday near Prempeh Cinema and Zenith Hotel in Takoradi, is in police grip in Takoradi charged with arson.

All properties in the house were lost to the inferno. But for the quick response by personnel of the Ghana National Fire Service, the fire would have spread to other buildings and structures at a place popularly called Quarters.

According to reports, the man carried out the act because his mother had prevented him from entering the house with a lady Monday night.

Some of the eyewitnesses also indicated that Richard Dara got incensed after his mother had asked him to lower the volume of a sound system that was playing music in his room late in the night; and out of anger, allegedly decided to punish the parents by burning the house.

According to some of the residents, at about 7am yesterday they realized that parts of the wooden structure of the house had been set ablaze and on seeing the fire spreading, they started shouting and calling for help.

“So we attempted to quench the fire with water and invited the Fire Service personnel who were able to douse the blaze outright, preventing it from spreading to other rooms,” a resident told this paper.

“The fire burnt to ashes all belongings of the suspect’s parents. Items destroyed completely included electrical appliances, cooking utensils, mattresses and money, among others,” he asserted.

Some of the residents claimed that after purportedly committing the barbaric act, Dara attempted to run away but he was quickly arrested by the area guys who tied his hands at his back and handed him over to the police.

ASP Olivia Ewurabena Adiku, Western Regional Police Public Relations Officer, corroborated the incident to DAILY GUIDE.

She indicated that the value of properties destroyed in two rooms was not immediately known as the occupants were not available at the time of the incident, adding that no one was injured in the process.

ASP Adiku disclosed that a suspected lunatic by name Richmond Dara, aged about 28 years, who was said to have started the fire, was being probed over the arson.