Evicted Mocha residents lose High Court case

Last Updated on Friday, 7 February 2025, 23:18 by Writer

Six of the residents of Mocha, East Bank Demerara, whose houses and other properties were crushed by the Central Housing and Planning Authority (CH&PA), on Friday lost their High Court case in which they were seeking award of the property lands and millions of dollars in compensation.

“The applicants have not established their cases. At the end of the day, there clearly was a decision by these applicants to no longer engage in regularisati0n, which 2022, involved allocating other lands to them so they could relocate.”

“The applicants would have become trespassers after being asked to remove from the land for which they had no title and to which they did not lay claim by any action or proceedings. They refused to move and the owner or its agents would have been entitled to remove them. They stayed at their peril,” Chief Justice Roxane George-Wiltshire said.

She also ruled that the former Mocha residents, who were evicted from Cane View, a government reserve for a new East Bank Demerara road, must pay hundreds of dollars in damages to the Attorney General’s Chambers, and the CH&PA by June 30, 2025.

The Court said the evicted residents in January 2023 suffered damage to property, rather than “unfounded claims” of constitutional breaches, and should have instead filed a private law case for damage to property.

The Chief Justice cited numerous instances of a lack of, insufficient or inaccurate evidence in several areas.

The residents were represented by Attorneys-at-Law, Vivian Williams and the State, was by a battery of lawyers led by Attorney General Anil Nandlall.