WESTERN BUREAU — A homeless man who allegedly set another street person ablaze was remanded in custody when he appeared in the Montego Bay Resident Magistrate’s Court yesterday.

The man, Athol Edwards, 30, is scheduled to return to court on April 8 to answer charges of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm.

The police reported that on March 16 this year both Edwards and the complainant, Anthony Brown, 37, who is still in hospital with burn wounds, were at the state-run City Spirit Foundation for the mentally ill and homeless when Edwards reportedly attacked Brown and set him ablaze.

Brown was taken to hospital and was admitted in serious condition. He had burns to his chest and abdomen.

In court yesterday, Edwards, who appeared without a lawyer, asked if he could speak but his request was denied by Resident Magistrate Valerie Stephens who told him to wait until he gets an attorney.

He is to be interviewed for a legal aid attorney before his next court appearance.

The fiery attack on Brown was the latest on the city’s homeless. In February, Donovan Mitchell, Michael Morales and Elvin Irving received burns to their bodies after they were set ablaze in the city’s busy commercial centre, Sam Sharpe Square. The police are yet to locate a man, known only as Ragga, who they say they want to question about that incident.