A traffic policeman was arrested late yesterday afternoon over the flouting of a High Court order and allegedly behaving disorderly, after he was ordered out of a Princes Street house he claimed was willed to him by a now dead great uncle.
The policeman was taken into custody after three van loads of heavily armed ranks descended on the Princes Street residence, where he and his wife and other relatives lived. His wife, who reportedly threw buckets of faeces on the bridge to prevent marshals from entering the premises, was up to last evening still refusing to leave.
A woman, who said her sister was the rightful owner of the property, told Stabroek News that she was granted an order for possession of the property last Friday by the High Court. The woman, who declined to be named, said the order was granted after an eviction order was made against the family in January but the family refused to adhere to it.
According to the woman, on Friday, the policeman and his family refused to leave. However, with the assistance of the marshals and two police officers, everything was moved out of the house and the locks were changed. However, some time Friday night the family returned to the location, broke the locks and moved back into the house, she said. The woman said she was forced to return to the location yesterday with the marshals again. For more than an hour they were kept out by the policeman’s wife.
Marshals at the location said when they arrived, the gate was locked and the woman, armed with an axe, challenged them to enter. “She tell we let all the men stay out and let the woman them come in,” one of the marshals said.
The woman then opened the septic tank in the yard and armed herself with buckets of sewage in a bid to keep officials out. Her husband subsequently arrived and he padlocked the gate with another lock. It was only after his colleagues arrived with guns that access to the premises was gained. “If you see how he tell them not to touch he but he walk to the vehicle and they put him in and drive away,” one of the marshals said.
When approached by this newspaper, the policeman’s wife offered no comment, stating that she had no idea what was happening. “I don’t know what happening, right now we sailing, we didn’t even get a letter or anything,” the woman said as she started to cry.
Giving a background to the court matter, the owner’s sister said the policeman’s great uncle and wife took care of her sister as a child. She later left the country but returned and rebuilt the couple’s home. The transport for the property was then placed in her and the great uncle’s name. She said about three years ago the policeman moved into the house and took care of the couple for about six months before they died. After the couple died, the man claimed the house belonged to him.
The woman said she then applied to the court and the man challenged the case and produced a will, which he said was left by his great uncle. However, the document was thrown out of court on the grounds that it was not genuine. After more than two years, the court ordered him to move out of the house. The woman said she hopes the policeman will be charged. She added that she may have to take down the stairs to the house, to prevent the man and his family from re-occupying the building.
