A 61-year-old woman has been left traumatized after her grandson attempted to take her life early this morning.
Bernadette Allen lives in Orange Walk with her teenage grandchild, and for years, she and her family have been terrorized by her other grandson, 27-year-old Barkley Allen. He has been diagnosed with a mental disorder that causes him to act out in strange and sometimes violent ways. And around 4:00 this morning, he lit his grandmother's house on fire - with her inside - before attacking her.
While Bernadette Allen survived the ordeal, she has lost everything, including her house, and is now dealing with the mental and emotional toll that enduring such a frightening experience is taking on her.
But this family believes that all this could have been avoided if the proper mental health procedures and facilities were in place. Courtney Menzies travelled north and spoke with them today. Here is that story.
Tonight, 61-year-old Bernadette Allen will not be sleeping in her own bed, under her own roof. That's because she narrowly escaped with only her life after her 27 year old grandson, Barkley Allen, attempted to burn her alive inside her house.
He set fire to both of her doors, trapping her inside. She managed to get out, only to be caught by him, and beaten badly.
Glenford Gentle, Son of Victim
"According to what my ma said, he came into the yard and he started to light fire about the place and she chased him and called the police but the police didn't respond so what she did, when he left, she came out and tried to out off the little fires that he made with water and so. After a little while more, she went back inside and when she noticed, her two doors that she uses to exit were under fire and when she got the chance to get out from there, he was waiting for her right in a corner over here in the dark and then he started to lash her with a wire and beat up her and thing and somehow she manage to escape with the neighbor's help and she escape from there and ended up with the neighbors. They end up almost taking out her eye, choked her, all kind of thing."
And this isn't the first time Allen has targeted his grandmother. He is mentally ill, and during his violent episodes, he has attempted to light her house on fire before, and has even successfully burnt down his home, which is inside the same yard.
And Gentle explained the family has exasperated all means to try and stop his nephew from hurting his grandmother, to no avail.
Glenford Gentle, Son of Victim
"It's an ongoing situation, they have reports, they have restraining order, the full works they have against him, but every time they hold him, they let him go because he has papers to say that he's mental, so that's the problem right there, because once you hold a mental patient, they only have so much they say they could do and after a little while they let him out and the last time he burnt down an area right here, that little house, he burnt it down, and then he came back and now he burnt down my mom's house and it is something constant that happens over and over no matter where we go, where we try to turn, there's no help."
Courtney Menzies:
"And do you feel like the police or the government could have prevented this from happening?"
Glenford Gentle, Son of Victim
"They could have prevented this yes because it's not like we just reported it just yesterday, we have more than 3, 4, 5 reports that we gone there, we have restraining order, we took my mom for her to do her report, all kinda thing to make them get him off the land and get him somewhere so that they can get him help."
And according to a neighbor and family friend, Karen Banner, that is where the problem lies. She explained that Allen is always at her house, so she can tell when he will soon have an episode. And though she couldn't have predicted what happened, she said that urgent help was needed long before this.
Karen Sharon Banner, Neighbor/Family Friend
"Everybody around here knows that Barkley has a mental issue but nobody is doing anything, nobody is saying, okay, let's get him to a rehab, let's sit down and talk to him and convince him to go to a rehab, let's do something. I can't do much, I mean we offer him food, we offer him water, he charge his phone at my house, his phone is at my house right now, I just noticed his phone is at my house, they have no electricity. So he charge his phone at my house. We give him water, we give him food, the last time he was sick, I was washing for him, giving him three meals a day, but he needs more than that. He needs more, Barkley is very troubled and he needs a lot of love and he needs a lot of support, so my question is to the Minister of Health, I already reached out to him since this morning, what do we do now? Where do we go from here? What happens to Barkley now? Are you going to lock him up in prison? He does not need to be locked away, he needs help."
Courtney Menzies:
"What are the symptoms, apart from being violent, the other types of symptoms he exhibits?"
Karen Sharon Banner, Neighbor/Family Friend
"Well, he talks loud, he yells, he screams, he fights with the dogs on the street, he would mess with people on the street, you would see him running, just running and I think it was just yesterday or the day before, he would be darting in front of vehicles so people around the area would have to be aware of him and he would be violent. One time he came and he tried to break down my door, he was knocking so hard on my door, he wanted to break it down, but the violent issue, I don't see it a lot, I think it usually happens when he get to a high stage, like he's almost at the brink of exploding like what he did with burning the house. And as far as I know, he hasn't hurt anybody yet, except what happened last night."
And though he spends most of his time at her house, he has never tried to hurt her. But Banner says there's a reason he targets his grandmother.
Karen Sharon Banner, Neighbor/Family Friend
"Because they have issues because of his mental issue and he knows that she's trying to take him out of the yard because she has a court summons, I think it was December, I don't even know if it's finished, so he knows because he brought it to me, he said, Miss Kay, my granny is trying to take me out of the yard again but it's because she's tired, she's tired, and I read the police report, on the police report it says clearly, I'm scared that he will burn my house down because he's trying, he would catch fire close to the house or play like he's burning garbage or different stuff. So that's the issue."
Bernadette Allen has since been discharged from the hospital, and her son says that physically, she is alright. Emotionally though, she is shaken, and everything she and her teenage grandson owns was destroyed.
While they are both in need of clothes and other basic supplies, the teenager - who attends Bishop Martin High School - is also in need of shoes and uniforms, while his grandmother's cell phone was also lost in the fire.
And Gentle explained that since his mother does not want to leave her land to live somewhere else, she also needs materials to rebuild her house.
The family can be reached at phone numbers 601-4184, or 613-4637.
Again those numbers are 601-4184 and 613-4637.
Barkley Allen was detained shortly after the incident not too far from the scene. He is currently in police custody.
