Lakeisha Grant, the six-month pregnant woman who died in a fire at her boyfriend’s home five months ago, will be laid to rest today.
Grant, along with two members of a Gasparillo family, was trapped inside the burning house when fire broke out on June 25.
Matriarch Eveline Miller, 72, and her five-year-old granddaughter Amy Chattergoon, also died in the fire.
Miller and her granddaughter will be buried on Saturday.
It took almost five months for the remains to be released to family members, as DNA testing was required to positively identify the three persons. DNA testing, however, was not being done locally and samples were sent abroad for testing, relatives were told.
The three females were burnt beyond recognition, police said.
A fourth person, 16-year-old Kimberly Chattergoon, who suffered extensive burns in the fire died three days later at the San Fernando General Hospital. She has been laid to rest.
Last Friday, Miller’s daughter Rosetta Bramble was contacted to report to the Forensic Science Centre in St James to receive the remains.
“My family has been mourning the loss of our loved ones for almost five months. I received a call to come to Forensic to sign the documents for the release of the bodies. We will now have a funeral service for them and have some closure, she said.
Bramble said a memorial service was held in memory of her mother and other relatives two months ago.
“But although a memorial was done, we need closure and I believe only a funeral will give us what we need to move on,” she said.
Grant’s funeral will be held at Belgroves Funeral Home. Her remains would then be buried at Roodal Cemetery.
A funeral will be held for Miller and little Amy at the Gasparillo Sacred Heart Catholic Church, where she was a member.
The remains would be buried in the church yard.
The family was asleep at their Caratal Road, Gasparillo, home when fire broke out in Amy’s bedroom at around 2am. Amy and her elderly grandmother were trapped inside the bedroom and neighbours could hear their screams for help.
Grant, who was six months pregnant with her first child, was almost out of the burning house when she went back inside to help the child and grandmother. But the roof collapsed, relatives said.
The three never made it out alive.
