Families, including the children and sister of missing government employee Anna Evans, remained at their homes in George Town this week, after being issued eviction notices last week.
The site of the homes off Shedden Road was the scene of a tense standoff last week with police present as bailiffs served the families with a “writ of possession” requiring them to move out.
The land on which the homes stand is owned by businessman Kent Rankin, who initiated the court order. He plans to demolish the structures on the 0.6-acre property.
Among the 20 people from six families living in separate homes on the site are the five children of Ms. Evans, a Department of Environmental Health worker who disappeared in January 2011, and their caretaker, Noreen Dixon, Ms. Evans’s sister.
Ms. Dixon said she was told by the Department of Children and Family Services to find a place to rent for her and the children.
This week she found two potential homes, she said, and had contacted Children and Family Services by email to inform them of her findings. She was awaiting a reply.
“I am prepared to move for the sake of the children, only if we have somewhere else to live,” Ms. Dixon said. “I don’t need no short-term solution. The children are under stress.”
A spokesman for the Department of Children and Family Services referred questions to its Needs Assessment Unit. A spokeswoman for that unit said she could not talk about specific cases, citing confidentiality reasons. She said anyone in need of financial assistance could apply to the unit and if they are declared indigent, they would qualify for help.
Last week, a uniformed inspector and eight other police officers attended the property, accompanied by a Grand Court bailiff who executed the writ of possession. Padlocks affixed to the doors of the homes were later removed by the residents.
“The bailiff caused locks to be added to some of the doors of the residence because persons were inside and one of the doors was blocked with a vehicle, so the ‘writ of possession’ was incomplete,” police said in a statement.
Following the execution of the writ of possession by the bailiff, police said, the new owner’s attorney was given the keys to the locks. Mr. Rankin has refused to comment on the situation.
Another resident at the site, Anthony Scott, said he planned to stay put because he had nowhere else to go.
Mr. Scott has said he spent most of his savings building his home.
“When they starting padlocking me inside the house, they said they were doing it house by house and they would be back to do the rest of the homes,” he said.
“I feel they have to get rid of me first, and they can get rid of everyone else.”
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Why would Mr. Scott build a house on a piece of property that he does not own and did he receive planning approval for the structure?
Let’s hope that the children find a home soon as I can only imagine how traumatized they must be at this time.
There a few things I still don’t understand about this, Mr Scott says that he spent all of his savings building his home. If this is the case why is it owned by someone else, did he build it on on someone else property? Did he sell it ? Also Miss Dixon claimed that the property belonged to her father and she wants to keep it that way, what’s the deal with that ? She says that she is willing to leave for the kids only if she has somewhere else to go and quote ‘ She don’t need no short Term solution ‘, what is it that she’s looking for someone to provide her a permanent home, she also says that the children are stressed, I wonder if she feels at all to blame for that, given that she knew this was coming for years.
I find it interesting that the police can put locks on the doors and people can just take them off with no circumstances, this is another example of how the RCIPS and the Cayman justice system let’s people walk over them.