After suffering years of abuse and death threats at the hands of her boyfriend, Elizabeth Greene and her daughter were left homeless after the jilted man set fire to their La Brea home.
The fire which destroyed Greene’s home along Coffee Beach around 10 pm Friday also razed her neighbour Jason James’ family home, damaged a disabled pensioner’s home and a visitor’s car.
Witnesses said they saw the suspect, who lives next to Greene, throw a flammable liquid inside her home before setting it ablaze. Neither Greene or her 21-year-old daughter, Shaquila Joseph, were home but James’ wife, Avion Ether Roberts James, and their children—Janelle, 14, and Shernice, 12—were forced to flee their house.
Speaking outside the rubble she once called home, Greene said yesterday when she ended their relationship on Thursday, the suspect threw two chairs at her while she and her daughter slept.
Later on, she was threatened that her house would be set on fire and her head chopped off.
“He and I fell out on the Thursday night and I was leaving. So I came here to pack my clothes. While doing that he told me nobody can’t leave here, he will burn down the house and he will chop off my neck.
“I decided to get out and go by my family and while I was changing my clothes by my nephew, the neighbour ran over and told me my house was on fire. I started to tremble because I was frightened,” Greene said.
James, who was fishing when the commotion was taking place, said he came home and met his house ablaze and his wife crying on the beach.
He said his family has nothing to do with the dispute between Greene and her former boyfriend but because houses along Coffee Beach were built close together, any fire would be a disaster.
“I ran inside my house and took out the gas tank, I took my car out the yard and that was all. Nothing else could have been done because everything was on fire,” James said.
The suspect, who left the scene soon, after was taken to the La Brea Police Station by a relative where he remained in custody up to yesterday.