The home of well-known community activist Rodney Moncur was completely destroyed Wednesday after it caught fire in the early morning hours.

The fire ravaged the building, leaving behind only its frame.

Mr. Moncur, who fought back tears as he spoke with The Bahama Journal, said that he had lived in the home for 13 years with his family until several weeks ago when he decided to sleep elsewhere for safety reasons.

He suspects that the fire is the work of an arsonist as he claims he has received numerous threats from individuals threatening to either hurt him or destroy his home.

“I had received threats that my home would be destroyed by fire. I made a complaint to the commissioner of police and he has ignored my email,” he said.

It was not caused by any electrical wiring or anything. My electricity, like 10,000 other citizens, [has been] off from October 2011. So I know definitely that it has nothing to do with electricity.”

“Standing outside my home, I can smell a strong flammable substance, even hours after the fire had happened.”

The former Democratic National Alliance (DNA) candidate said that he will leave the matter up to the police to investigate.

However, police at the moment have yet to classify the cause of fire as arson.

One of Mr. Moncur’s neighbors, Preston Brennen tried to put out the fire.

He said he, too, believes this fire was the work of an arsonist.

“I heard my niece shouting for me and by the time as I got out of the house, it was already engulfed in flames,” he said.

“I came out and got couple buckets of water but that didn’t do anything, so I called the police and the fire department, but they still took a long time to come.”

Mr. Moncur said he lost just about everything in the fire, including mementos. He noted that his son was also brought to tears.

He said that the CCTV systems that are being placed around New Providence need to be placed in areas like Bain and Grants Town where he lives because it is one of those areas with a high concentration of criminal activity.
“I think CCTV has to be placed in where I call the cradle of civilization, the area where I live,” he said.

“We need some form of deterrents and some form of equipment that would record this criminal activity while it is in the process.”

Mr. Moncur calls the fire a ‘second blow’ as he is scheduled to return to court on Friday in relation to a photo he placed on Facebook.

This setback, Mr. Moncur said, will not stop him from continuing his activism work.

He, along with the Family of All Murder Victims (FOAM), will march from Arawak Cay to Rawson Square in a protest against crime in the country.