A Victoria family of 16 is calling on the authorities to look into the matter of a land dispute with a local pastor who demolished their house last year following a court order issued by acting Chief Justice Ian Chang.
When Stabroek News visited Albert and Silawantie Christie, who formerly lived in a two-storey home at Lot 26 Victoria Village, East Coast Demerara, which was demolished last year, they were found dwelling in a makeshift house with no doors.
Deeply concerned about safety, Silawantie said, she and her husband take turns at night to make sure the other members of their household are safe.
The couple, ages 77 and 56 years old respectively, explained that they bought the house from a woman named Lillian Skeete, who previously occupied the lot in 1967, and built a newer model house (two-storey).
Albert said that in 1985 he completed his new home where his 17 children lived and started a family business manufacturing blended pepper, seasonings, mango achar and cassareep.
Silawantie said she and her husband along with their children lived at the said lot over 40 years and had filed for prescriptive rights before the court and obtained the said land. They showed this newspaper a copy of a transport dated March 2, 1998, granted to Albert Christie, which they said was obtained after the prescriptive rights were awarded.
Silawantie added that on November 2 last year, four men entered the yard without permission and started to dismantle the fence before moving to the top flat of their home; hammering out the wooden walls.
This exercise, she said, lasted for three days and on the third day, the destruction of the house was complete.
The family said that a Pastor Desmond Saul had turned up the night before the demolition started with a letter.
The letter was later confirmed by Saul to be a signed court order for them to be evicted from the building which would be later demolished. Saul said that the letter was not taken to them at night; but on the day of the demolition.
“I stand up and watch that man tear down my home what I worked day and night sweating to build and just like that he tear it down,” Albert lamented.
He said that since the dismantling of his house, his grandchildren now face the difficulty of not sleeping at night as they feel unsafe.
He also claimed that on the day of the demolition, Saul had made a number of threats to him and family; creating fear among them.
Silawantie added that she and husband went to the Cove and John police station, but were told it was a private matter and the police could not handle it.
She alleged that a police officer threatened her husband to place him in the lockups if he returned to make any other report.
She estimated their losses in the millions.
Asked if she planned to find another place of abode, Silawantie said, “I am not moving from here, all my children born and grow here right here.
What he did was wrong and he call himself a man of God, he should be shame.”
She added that the family business previously maintained the household, but since the incident, they have been unable to work and what used to be three meals a day is now only one to make ends meet.
The makeshift house they now occupy has no bathroom or toilet facilities.
Silawantie said she and her family are willing to rebuild and start back the family business, but they are afraid of the actions the pastor may take this time to get them off.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Saul claimed that he bought the land in 1994; he said the land had belonged to his family years ago.
He showed this newspaper a transport for the land numbered 177/91, which stated that the land had four occupants including the Christies.
Saul claimed that after he bought the property, he approached the occupants and told them that he would lease the land to them for $100.
He said that Christies refused while the others took up the offer.
This offer, he explained, would have seen the family pay a lease of $5000 per year just like the other families do.
He showed a letter dated September 1994 which explained that the land was leased to the three occupants. He said that it was after this letter that the Christies decided to claim the piece of land by prescriptive rights.
Two years after another letter which was shown to this newspaper, established that in 1996, the Christies were again offered the opportunity to lease the land but they again refused.
On May 30, 1996 Saul moved to the Supreme Court.
After some time, Saul said, he learned that the family had started to expand and claim more land; building two houses and starting on a third.
On July 6, 2004, Justice Yonette Cummings ordered that Christie remove his houses.
Saul explained that after the order was made, Christie refused to remove and as such an auction was ordered for the sale of his house. It is unclear what exactly happened then but the Christies continued to live there.
In October last year, Saul said, he approached the family again with another offer which was refused and as such he moved to the court one final time to have them completely evicted from his land. He said he was willing to give another 10 ft of land for the same cost.
This cost however he said was not negotiated at the time due to the fact that he was waiting for a meeting with both Christies to settle an agreement.
He produced a court order numbered 101-W, in which Justice Chang gave him permission to demolish the house and evict the occupants.
He said that on the day of the eviction, court marshals and police officers assisted the Christies out of the house.
Saul said he was born on the land owned jointly by members of his family. In 1980 he left for Canada and returned to buy the entire property.
Saul stated that when he left the Christies were not on the plot of land.
However, many in the village have criticised Saul’s action.
Villagers further said that he did not take into consideration the well-being of the children who range in age from 2 to 12 years old.
One resident of the area who prefers to remain anonymous said that as a “man of God”, Saul should have considered the plight of the family.
When the villagers’ comments were put to him, Saul said “Life is about choices and as such when we make bad choices we face the consequences… God treats us the same way. The Bible says we must have wisdom and I used my wisdom.”
When Stabroek News contacted the Christies with regard to Saul’s claims, they denied that he had made offers to them adding that they were given prescriptive rights to the land they built on.
