Gomea family left homeless

A Gomea man, two of his children, as well as two grand children, have been left homeless in controversial circumstances.

Winston ‘Boney’ O’Brien’s Top Gomea home was demolished on Thursday, June 18th, 2009, by a group of men who were accompanied by two police officers and a bailiff.{{more}}

O’Brien was quite upset when he spoke to SEARCHLIGHT about the matter on Monday, June 22nd, 2009.

He explained that he had been occupying the land where his house once stood for the past 27 years, with the consent of Elaine Carmichael, the original owner of the land.

According to O’Brien, Elaine died nine years ago, but her daughter, Naomi Carmichael, who inherited that portion of land, gave him permission to remain on the spot approximately five years ago when she visited St.Vincent and the Grenadines.

He said shortly after she returned to England, her sister Millescent Redway, who owns the adjacent plot and is executor of her mother’s estate, repeatedly asked him to vacate the premises.

O’Brien said he ignored her demands since the real owner of the land had personally granted him permission to remain there.

O’Brien claims that Redway took him to court three years ago, but as far as he is aware, the matter never proceeded because the magistrate was never presented with a case file. He said he was present for all the hearings.

The Gomea resident said he was shocked when a bailiff turned up at his home last month and told him he had seven days to remove his wooden home or it would be removed by force.

Last Thursday, O’Brien was at home when a group of men turned up equipped with hammers and other construction tools. In the presence of the police and the bailiff, they broke up the house and placed the materials and all his personal belongings at the side of the road.

O’Brien is questioning, how can a magistrate grant permission to demolish his home if there was never a ruling in the matter when it was taken to court? He said additionally, he was never served notice by the bailiff, who only read the order from a book.

SEARCHLIGHT tried to contact Redway on Monday, June 22nd, but was told that she is out of state. On Tuesday, however, her husband relayed a message: “Millescent said that Boney was asked to remove the house since 1992. She said that ‘Boney can go to hell’ as far as she is concerned.”