A group of men posing as City Council workers on Monday demolished a house at Newtown, Kitty, leaving at least six people without a home.
Stabroek News yesterday visited the Lot 102 Da Silva and Republic streets, Newtown location, where only a large heap of wood and concrete remained.
One of the former occupants of the house, Rita Williams, was at the time at a neighbour’s home making inquiries about a nearby house to rent.
Williams explained that she lived on the upper flat with her daughter and grandson while other relatives shared the bottom flat. She said that it was around 8am when about 20 men arrived at her home and presented a document that she was not even allowed to properly view.
“First thing I do when I wake up is open the back door for some light to come in the house and I hear a knocking.
So, I say ‘who is it’ and the man flash this paper behind the grill and I say what is that and he say he is from the City Council come to dismantle the house,” Williams recalled.
She stated that she was refused a closer look at the paper and when asked for a few minutes to have her lawyer contacted, she was told that there is not enough time for that.
“A whole load of them come. I said please hold a moment… I said let me have a moment to talk to my lawyer and they said we don’t have time for all of that. I run and wake up my grandson and I say come quick it got people here that come to break up this house. He go and ask to see the paper to see what it’s all about and they said look we don’t have time for all that,” she added.
Williams said she was not allowed to save any of her household appliances nor furniture but was only permitted time to change her clothing. “I had on my nightgown and my grandson tell me hurry and go change your clothes and by the time I finish do that, they start pulling down the walls and I run out,” the distraught Williams said.
She stated that her grandson made efforts to contact the Kitty Police Station but was told that it is not a matter for the police and they would be unable to intervene. She, however, then called the 911 hotline but those efforts too were futile. “When I call 911, like they pick up and hang up back the phone,” she added.
The woman explained that her late husband, John Williams, and his five siblings had received equal shares on the property that would have been passed on to their children in the case of death as was his.
She suggested that a relative of her late husband was responsible for the demolition.
She noted that she had received a letter from the woman’s lawyer indicating that she must give up possession of the top flat, where she lived. She added that she took that letter to her lawyer, Raphael Trotman, who has since been looking at the case.
Williams said she has since contacted Trotman and explained what has happened and the matter is now in his hands.
This newspaper yesterday spoke to Mayor of George-town Hamilton Green, who said that he made checks within City Hall and was assured that none of his officers was involved in the demolition.
