The State has denied any liability for the deaths of 20 children in the 2023 Mahdia Secondary School dormitory fire, maintaining that it fulfilled its duty of care and that emergency escape routes were available and communicated to students through fire drills.
The position, contained in a defence filed on August 31 on behalf of Attorney General Anil Nandlall SC, is at odds with findings by the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) that the dormitory had no fire alarm, detection or smoke detection systems and no exit signs.
The defence was filed in proceedings brought by the estates of 11 of the children who died. They are seeking damages from the State for alleged negligence and violations of their constitutional rights.
The State denies that it exposed the children to any unreasonable, foreseeable or avoidable risk of death or serious injury. It says the fire was caused by the “deliberate, intentional and malicious act” of a student after her cellular phone was confiscated.
That student was subsequently charged with 20 counts of murder.
“As tragic as the events of 21st May 2023 at the Mahdia Female Dormitory were,” the defence says, the State denies negligence, constitutional violations or impropriety by its servants and agents and accepts no liability for the fire or the resulting injuries, loss or damage.
It has asked the court to dismiss the claim with costs, describing it as “specious” and “misconceived in law”.
The claim was brought by the estates of Ariana Arlene Edwards, Delecia Tramaincy Edwards, Omefia Felicia Edwin, also known as Cleoma Simon, Lorita Williams, Nicholeen Robinson, Andrea Roberts, Lisa Roberts, Shorlin Bellarmine, Thracial Thomas, Sherana Daniels and Natalie Bellarmine. The estates are represented by relatives appointed as administrators ad litem.
The State says staff members, including the dormitory’s house father and house mother, responded after being alerted by screams and attempted to facilitate the children’s escape.
It says several students escaped or were pulled from the building by dormitory staff and residents before the arrival of the Mahdia Fire Service.
According to the State, the fire was reported at approximately 11.12 pm and firefighters promptly proceeded to the scene. Twenty-eight persons were rescued through front doors, windows and a hole made in a wall. A jet of water was also used to establish a rescue path.
The defence says the Mahdia Fire Service extinguished the fire by approximately 3 am and found 14 bodies inside the dormitory.
It also gives a detailed account of the medical response, saying a team comprising two burns specialists and two emergency-room doctors was mobilised from the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation shortly before midnight.
Aircraft operated by Air Services Limited and the Guyana Defence Force were dispatched to Mahdia, while the Roraima Airways hangar at the Eugene F Correia International Airport was converted into an emergency centre.
Nineteen injured students who initially remained at the Mahdia District Hospital were subsequently transferred to Georgetown for advanced care, the filing says. One child was later sent to New York for specialised treatment.
The State also cites its provision of transportation, accommodation, meals, medical and psychosocial care for affected families. It says Cabinet members were assigned to families and the government met funeral and burial expenses for the 19 girls and the five-year-old boy who died.
On the question of fire preparedness, the defence says Guyana Fire Service personnel visited government agencies in Mahdia during Fire Safety Week in October 2022 and conducted training at the school dormitories.
It says students and teachers were taught to use fire extinguishers, teachers were provided with evacuation plans and drills were conducted monthly at Mahdia’s nursery, primary and secondary schools.
However, the CoI subsequently found that there was a complete absence of a fire-prevention system at the dormitory. It said there was no alarm, fire-detection or smoke-detection system, no exit signs, only three fire extinguishers and grills on all the windows.
As reported, a February 7, 2023 inspection report identifying those deficiencies had been submitted to Chief Fire Officer Gregory Wickham and then Regional Education Officer Anesta Douglas. The CoI found both officials derelict in their duties.
Stabroek News had also reported shortly after the tragedy that the Mahdia Fire Service had warned in November 2022 and February 2023 that the grills posed a fire hazard. Mahdia Mayor David Adams had said his inquiries indicated that students had not been exposed to fire drills and that the building had no fire escapes.
The families’ claim alleges that the State failed to implement adequate fire-safety measures and confined the children behind grilled windows and locked doors, preventing their escape. It also alleges violations of the children’s constitutional rights to life, liberty, freedom of movement and protection from cruel and degrading treatment.
The defence rejects those allegations as unsubstantiated and says they do not reach the threshold necessary to establish constitutional violations.
Settlements
The State is also defending the agreements under which families were offered $5 million for each child who died, $3 million for students whose injuries were classified as serious and $500,000 for those with less serious injuries.
The relatives contend that they were pressured to sign the agreements without independent legal advice and that the payments were grossly inadequate.
The State says the financial assistance was offered after families requested cash to assist them in continuing to provide for their households. It maintains that the payments were additional to the assistance provided immediately after the fire.
According to the State, lawyers were retained as independent advisers and helped determine the amounts to be offered gratuitously.
The Attorney General and a team, including two social workers and an independent legal adviser, met families in Mahdia on July 3 and 4, 2023. Regional officials and a translator were also present because some families required translation between English and Patamona, the defence says.
The State maintains that families were told they could consult the lawyer provided or one of their choosing and that they were not required to sign or accept the offer.
The process was repeated on July 31 and August 1, 2023. The State says all but two families accepted the financial assistance.
The state further says the family of one claimant was contacted on at least three occasions and offered transportation to Mahdia for the meetings but refused. It maintains that the claimant remains eligible for the payment.
The State also argues that parents had the legal capacity to settle claims on behalf of their deceased children even before being appointed administrators of their estates. It contends that the agreements therefore bind the estates.
In 2023, Stabroek News reported that the agreements described the $5 million payments as settlement of all claims and actions arising from the fire.
The families have disputed both the validity of those agreements and the circumstances in which they were signed.
The fire erupted late on May 21, 2023, killing 19 girls and the five-year-old son of the dormitory’s house mother.
Discussion