Injunction stops Pastor’s church service

MILLIONAIRE pastor Vishnu Lutchmansingh was yesterday served with a High Court injunction preventing him from carrying on his Faith Sanctuary Church service on yet another parcel of land. The lands are located at Harmony Hall, Reform Village near Marabella in South Trinidad and is owned by two companies managed by poultry businessman, Shaheed Mohammed. It was only on Saturday, Lutchmansingh was served with two notices by Caroni (1975) Limited, ordering him to desist from clearing lands at Chin Chin Road Junction, Cunupia, to contruct a Faith Sanctuary Church.

At Harmony Hall, Lutchmansingh has been operating his Faith Sanctuary church under a large mobile tent on three lots of land for the past year.
Filed by Nashville Farms Ltd and Heritage Farms Ltd, the injunction named Lutchmansingh and Faith Sanctuary as defendants. The two companies are subsidiaries of Nutrimix Feeds Ltd of Barrackpore, of which Mohammed is managing director. The injunction was filed in the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain, Friday last. The two companies are seeking an injunction to restrain Lutchmansingh from entering and assembling for religious service on 13,477 square feet of land. It further seeks to have Lutchmansingh remove the tent and vacate the lands.

According to a writ, filed by Seenath Jairam SC, instructed by attorney Helen Lochan, the plaintiff companies stated that Lutchmansingh was granted a bare licence to use the premises. However, according to the writ, the companies revoked the licence on May 15. The companies are also seeking damages from Latchmansingh for alleged trespassing. Yesterday, the companies’ representatives unsuccessfully attempted several times to serve the injunction on pastor Lutchmansingh. When Newsday visited the tent yesterday, construction workers with tools were milling around. Pastor Lutchmansingh could not be reached yesterday. The injunction comes up for hearing in court on June 11 in the Hall of Justice, Port-of-Spain.