The feud between Shauntelle Butcher and some members of her family came to a head on Thursday.
Unable to resolve their differences, an eviction order was enforced and the upset woman, along with her five children and three grands, could only watch their home in Kew Road, Redman’s Village, St Thomas, be dismantled.
“This morning I saw the truck and then there were marshals, police and everything. They started taking down the house around 11 a.m.,” she said.
Butcher said they were given a final warning on Tuesday, but still had not managed to find a place to live. The best she did was to get a friend to allow them to put the salvageable pieces of the house on their land.
“I went to Mia’s (the Prime Minister’s) office and I spoke to (Member of Parliament) Neil Rowe last week, and they are supposed to be helping. Our MP (Member of Parliament) Kerrie Symmonds told us he can’t help us anymore because we put it in the Nation. I was looking around for places to rent and waiting for people to call back,” she said.
The distraught mother said that the family was now homeless and while she found some place for the children to sleep that night, she was at a loss about what to do next.
“I don’t even know how to feel. My grandparents left this for me, so I don’t know how I’m going through this now. Now I have to start life over.”
Her brother, who lives next door, declined to comment. He had taken the matter to court on behalf of he and their mother and won the case.
Symmonds, when contacted yesterday, said there was much more to the matter than was being published, but his only official comment was that the National Housing Corporation was seeking to assist.
Rowe said he had wanted to attempt to broker peace between the siblings, but did not manage to discuss the matter fully. He added his next step was to ask the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation whether there was any available land for lease, but he could make no promises.
Minister of People Empowerment and Elder Affairs Adrian Forde said he was unaware of the matter but would look into it and send a social worker to investigate. (CA)
