A mother and her two young daughters were murdered by a neighbour who set their flat on fire over a row about rubbish bags being left behind their building, a court has heard.
The prosecution said the defendant, Jamie Barrow, “walked casually away” despite screams being heard from inside the flat.
Nottingham crown court was told Barrow, 31, poured petrol through the letterbox of Fatoumatta Hydara’s first-floor property in the early hours of 20 November last year, before setting it alight and staying while the blaze took hold. He denies three counts of murder.
Hydara, 28, died two days after the incident. Her daughters Fatimah Drammeh, three, and Naeemah Drammeh, one, were both killed in the fire in Fairisle Close in Clifton, Nottingham.
Jurors were told Barrow had raised a “grievance” with the local authority around a month before the blaze, but the prosecutor, Simon Ash KC, said it was not accepted that Hydara had been leaving rubbish in the alleyway.
Opening the case to a packed public gallery on Monday, Ash said the defendant had admitted starting the fire but denied murder.
He said: “He killed a woman called Fatoumatta Hydara, and he killed her two daughters Fatimah Drammeh and Naeemah Drammeh. The defendant killed them by setting fire to their flat in the early hours of the morning on 20 November last year.”
Ash said Hydara and her two children were asleep in the flat when the fire was started. “He poured petrol through their letterbox and he set it alight. The defendant knew that the front door was the only way in and out of the flat. He knew that there would be no way for them to escape.”
Ash told the jury that Barrow stayed as the blaze took hold and that a fire alarm sounded after it started.
He said: “Shortly after [the alarm], Mrs Hydara or one of the children started screaming. The defendant did nothing to help them. He didn’t call the fire service or alert anyone to what was happening. About five minutes later, he walked casually away, leaving Mrs Hydara and Fatimah and Naeemah trapped in the burning flat.
“All three of them died as a result of the fire.”
Ash said that before setting the flat alight, Barrow had walked past the property while a light was on inside as he was on his way to buy some beer. “There would have been some light coming from her flat and the light would have been further indication to the defendant that Hydara and the children were in the flat at the time.”
Barrow also denies arson being reckless as to whether life was endangered.
The trial continues.
The Guardian Uk
