(Barbados Nation) The August 26, 2007 cave-in that claimed the lives of a family of five at Arch Cot, Brittons Hill, St Michael, could have been avoided, and was yesterday described as an act of man forcing the hand of God.
In a strongly worded summary and verdict in the enquiry which started 13 months ago, Coroner Faith Marshall-Harris said the Codrington family need not have died since the Shalom Apartment building where they lived for a mere two months should never have been built on that fragile area, and excavation work near the building should have stopped on July 9, 2007 – a month before the incident – when a massive hole appeared.
Before the packed Coroner’s Court on Roebuck Street, The City, Marshall-Harris said:
“This was an avoidable accident. An accident in the context of a Coroner’s Court is an event that takes place over which human beings have little control. I’ve carefully not said misadventure because I think it is more than that. It was an accident, but it was an accident where a number of persons acting properly could have ensured that it was avoided.”
