Widow, 10 children evicted

To make matters worse, a group of men among them one claiming to be a bailiff, removed all her household items from the property in Couva and transported them to the home of her mother, several miles away in Princes Town.

“They bring everything on a truck and dumped it here. The rain was drizzling a while ago. Where am I to put these things? The rain is about to burst down and another truck will be here any minute. They mashed up my washing machine. I do not kno w if my stove and TV still working,” Ramsaroop said.

Her children are between the ages of 21 and three. Three children attend schools in Couva–two are in secondary school and one is at a primary school.

Speaking to Sunday Newsday at her mother’s home at Glenroy Settlement in Princes Town, the widow explained that at about 8.30 am yesterday a group of men swooped down on her home at 7 Exchange Lot, Couva. The men did not show the family any documents or identification but told Ramsaroop that she and the family had to leave the property immediately.

The men were accompanied by two policemen.

Only in February 17, her common-law husband, heart-patient Krishna Rampersad, 65, died. Since then, the grandmother of two said one of his close male relatives has been trying to get her and the children of the two-storey concrete house.

“Krishna left a will and the house is for me and the children.

They know these things and feel because we have no money they could do us this.

They paid security to stay on the property for seven nights.

Where we going to sleep? There is no space here,” Ramsaroop said.

In a document dated June 2, under the title “notice of revocation of licence”, a male relative “ordered” her to remove her personal effects and belongings on or before June 23, claiming the licence to occupy the dwelling house had expired. There was neither a letterhead nor official stamp on the document.

“I don’t know what to do. I was living with this man for 23 years and now this happen. Their own flesh and blood they doing this to. This is wickedness,” charged the mother.

The family intends to seek legal advice on the matter.