The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

A QUADRIPLEGIC and his elderly father escaped injury after a suspected arsonist set fire to their home home early on Tuesday morning.

Michael Wells, 57, is unable to speak and move while his father has dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

His sister, Cherylann Welles, 60, told The Tribune her brother did not know when the alleged perpetrator lit the fire. However he recalled smelling smoke before 5am on Tuesday.

“Whoever came in through the kitchen window, they came through. They closed the door, closed the bathroom door, put whatever substance they had in the roof and they left out the front door and left the door open,” she said.

“Whoever did this had no mercy, you come to light the house on fire with someone who can’t even walk and the next one ...he can walk but he just don’t know nothing.”

Police were at the scene yesterday to look at the damage and take statements.

John Johnson, Mr Wells’ caretaker of about four years, came to the house just in time to extinguish the fire before it spread. Mr Johnson arrived around six that morning and heard Mr Wells calling for him. However, his caretaker was not aware of what occurred.

“I just took my time and took my things out of the car and when I noticed the front door wasn’t locked, I opened the front door. I just pulled it open and walked inside. First thing I saw was the ceiling on fire.

“It wasn’t a big blaze. Just the red from the fire getting ready to get big. When I saw it I just walked past the fire because the fire was over my head.”

He said he was able to quickly extinguish the fire by throwing water on it.

Mr Johnson noticed the bathroom door was locked and Michael Wells’ door was closed. He added the smoke detector in his room was going off.

His caretaker had spent the night in the house since the incident and will do so going forward, his sister said.

According to Mr Wells, he believes the culprit has mental health issues and is known to people who live nearby.

Mr Wells mainly communicates by writing on a computer screen. Using a magnet on his forehead, this creates a beam to type on the monitor to write books. He was in the 2008 Bahamian film called “I Am Not a Dummy” which explored his life and work.