By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

TWO brothers were overcome with grief after the body of their younger sister, a 73-year-old retired public servant, was burnt beyond recognition in a house fire yesterday.

Maud McCartney, a former ambassador within the Ministry of Tourism, was found on the floor in the living room of her home on Collins Avenue where she had lived since 1965.

Her brother Charles, 76, told The Tribune that his sister’s tragic death was painful given his family’s efforts to convince Ms McCartney to move from the home.

“She was completely healthy, so she didn’t need anyone to look after her or so she kept saying,” Mr McCartney said. “We thought otherwise, we didn’t want her to be there by herself but she was always independent.

“I still can’t come to terms with it, my only sister. She had a pretty good life, there are so many memories. It was a tragic situation, we never thought that something like this would happen. We’ve been asking her for years to move from here, get a condominium somewhere.”

Last night, Superintendent Stephen Dean made an urgent appeal for any information that may assist police investigations, adding that arson had not been ruled out.

The fire was reported shortly after 6pm, according to Mr Dean, who said the house was engulfed in flames when fire officers arrived.

Ms McCartney’s body was found during a search of the home after the fire was extinguished; however, an autopsy will have to be conducted to confirm officially her identity and cause of death.

Supt Dean said: “We have crime scene persons out here, people from our homicide, people from fire, we are treating this open. Right now we are just trying to get to the bottom of this.

“We are asking anyone who might have been passing in the area, anyone who might have been walking, who has any information as to how this fire started. We are asking you to contact us urgently, immaterial to how insignificant the tip might be it can help us with our investigations.”

Mr McCartney said he and his brother, George, made several attempts to convince Ms McCartney to sell the home, which had been highly sought after by doctors due to its location in the medical district.

Other family members would live periodically with Ms McCartney at the insistence of her brothers; however, Mr McCartney said the elderly woman was fiercely independent.

Ms McCartney’s grandniece, a medical student on summer break, was living at the house at the time of her death, Mr McCartney said.

Initial reports indicated that two persons may have been inside the burning home but it was later confirmed that only one body was found.

“I still believe it’s not happening,” Mr McCartney said. “All I kept saying is, where is she? We were told that the car was in the garage, and that frightened me because that meant she would have been home.

“Then we got the call that the car wasn’t there so we got a little hope that she had gone somewhere, but when we came here the officer told us that the car is here and he gave us the news,” he said.

“So many doctors had been behind her to sell this place, because you know look at the address. At one point she agreed and just last week my brother and myself said that we were going to put it on the market again, and she was a little apprehensive.”

Mr McCartney said his sister was a devout Christian and member of the East Street Gospel Chapel. After she retired, Ms McCartney devoted her life to caring for her parents. She was unmarried and without children, Mr McCartney said.

He said that he would remember Ms McCartney as a loving sister and the perfect daughter to his parents, adding that he was comforted by her strong faith.

“We were a very close knit family and we were brought up to believe that if you honour your father and mother your life would be long not only in terms of years but in terms of prosperity,” he said.

“She became fairly wealthy and never married so I guess that also was to [her parents’] benefit because she had no other obligations. The timing was perfect, the same week that she retired, they started to get old - that’s my take on it. She was there at their beck and call, and I’m telling you you couldn’t have found a nicer daughter.”

Ms McCartney’s home is next door to the dental office of House Speaker Dr Kendal Major, who was at the scene last night. Dr Major said he was familiar with Ms McCartney, whose presence had been missed in the area.

Dr Major said: “Ms McCartney was very serious. She loved her garden, she loved her home. I often saw her in the back of the yard doing some gardening and looking around the neighbourhood, just being her usual friendly self.

He added: “We hadn’t seen her in a while and so we had kinda missed her, so it was certainly a shock and a tragedy to learn that she passed in the fire.”