FRANCINE BLACK, Staff Reporter
Left: The North Street Seventh-day Adventist Church which was firebombed. right:
This is the remains of a bottle bomb that was thrown into the North Street Seventh-day Adventist Church yesterday, destroying this bench when it exploded. - IAN ALLEN PHOTOS
THE KINGSTON CENTRAl Police CIB are expected to have some leads today in the attempted arson of the North Street Seventh-day Adventist church which occurred yesterday.
Investigators from the station told THE STAR that they should definitely have something concrete regarding a motive for the attempted arson.
In the meantime, church officials are describing the failed attempt as a miracle. At least three attempts were made by the culprits to destroy the 110-year-old church including an attempted firebombing of the main church building. The culprits also allegedly tried to set fire to four 100-lb cylinders of gas and the caretakers quarters.
"IT IS A MIRACLE"
"It is a miracle. We don't know why anyone would want to do this. We have a good relationship with the community and we just can't see why anyone inside or outside the area would want to do this," Linton Williams, pastor of the church told THE STAR.
Mark Burke, caretaker of the church who discovered the remnants of the fire said he was shocked at what he found when he awoke yesterday morning. "This morning I wake at six to go open the gate and when I open my door, I step into some liquid. I didn't know what it was at the time because I thought it was one of the bottles (of bleach or disinfectant) beside the door that was leaking," he said.
Burke added that he later realised that the liquid was not coming from his bottles but was in fact gas oil. He also noticed that a Lucozade bottle containing a burnt match was outside the door. He summoned the police and continued to check the grounds.
Shortly after, one of the persons who prepares the lunches for the New Hope Preparatory School, which is also on the grounds, showed Burke four 100-lb cylinders of gas covered with melted plastic and burnt cardboard. According to the school principal Wilma Ferguson, the hose connections had also been burnt off.
However, despite preliminary checks, the caretaker later found a bottle bomb inside the back of the church. The bomb which was allegedly thrown through the window of the church and set fire to a bench somehow extinguished itself instead of burning down the church building.
In the meantime, the principal of the school said two students, who were traumatised, cried yesterday stating that they did not want to be killed by a bomb but wanted to die of old age. School was also prematurely dismissed because of the incident but is expected to resume today.
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