A dwelling house burnt down to ashes after an argument between wife and husband over homebrew in Western Province

A 26-year-old husband burnt down a dwelling house to ashes after he argued with his wife over homebrew beer at Uzamba village in Vella La Vella Island, Western Province recently.

Supervising Provincial Police Commander (PPC) Western Province, Superintendent Wilken Miriki said, “The husband with his wife who reside downstairs of the same dwelling house have an argument over a container of locally made homebrew the suspect is looking for after he wakes up.”

PPC Miriki said, “The suspect was drunk the whole night before he burnt down the dwelling house. When he woke up the next day, he continued drinking homebrew.”

Superintendent Miriki said, “After he drank all the left-over homebrew, he went down to his wife's market, approached her aggressively about the missing container of homebrew and cash to pay for more homebrew.”

Mr. Miriki said, “When his wife does not want to give him the money, he collects dried sago palm leaves, goes inside the house and lit the sago palm leaf, locks the door of the house and the house catches fire.”

The suspect was arrested and placed in police custody, charged for the arson contrary to section 319 (a) of the Penal Code. He will appear before Gizo Magistrates’ Court on a later date.