Roadworks in My Lord’s Hill

The National Petroleum Corporation (NPC)

and its contractor will be carrying out work in
preparation for road reinstatement in My Lord’s
Hill, St Michael, tomorrow.
During this time, there will be a single lane
closure and road users are asked to proceed
with caution and pay attention to the traffic
wardens.
At the end of this work, the road will be closed on
Monday, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., as asphalt paving
will begin.
The NPC has apologised for any inconvenience
this work may cause. (PR)

MARCH 11, 2023 BDS$1.50

Roxanne Langford was ordered deported. Rakeem Royal was ordered deported. Kyrell Lynch was ordered deported.

SQUATTERS
DEPORTED Christopher Davis was fined $500 for stealing
water. (Pictures by Maria Bradshaw.)

One with application for status gets chance

By Maria Bradshaw
mariabradshaw@nationnews.com
Four non-nationals who pleaded guilty
yesterday to dishonestly diverting a
quantity of water between February
26 and March 1, received different
fates when they appeared at the
Oistins Magistrates’ Court.
Three of them were deported
while one was given a chance to
remain in Barbados because he
had an application for status at the
Immigration Department.
Jamaican Rakeem Royal, 27;
Trinidadian Kyrell Lynch, 35, and
Guyanese couple Christopher Davis,
35, and Roxanne Langford, 40, were
arrested earlier this week after
they were discovered squatting on
unoccupied land at Goodland
Gardens, Christ Church.
Only Davis, who has been in
Barbados since 2016, was allowed
to remain after immigration officers
told the court he had submitted an
application in January which was
pending.
Prosecutor Sergeant Shane Chase
told the court the four were renting an
apartment at Goodland Gardens, but
due to circumstances they were unable
to pay the rent and moved out.
On February 26, their former
landlord made a check of her property
and realised that a pipe was attached
to her exterior pipe. She followed it
and realised it was running on the lot
opposite her apartment where three
galvanised sheds were built. She
subsequently reported the matter
to the police and the four were taken
into custody.
While the four admitted they had
the pipe connected to the landlord’s,
two of them denied they were using
the water, pointing out that they
were filling buckets of water from
another resident.
Royal told the court that the water
was diverted with a hose but he
only used it for his garden and his
chicken pen on the unoccupied lot, and
that was before he moved out of the
apartment.
Davis also said he used the water
for his garden. “The intention was to
run it to the garden to water plants,”
he disclosed, while admitting that the
pipe was attached under the road.
His girlfriend Langford said she
used the water to bathe and cook as
she apologised to the court. Pointing
out that she came to Barbados
in 2016 for a better life, she said
she was not aware that she had to
continue to update her status with the
Immigration Department. She asked
the court to allow her to stay at her
boyfriend’s brother but Magistrate
Deidre McKenna told her: “You
messed up your chances of a better
life by staying here illegally,” adding
that her fate was in the hands of the
Immigration Department.
Meanwhile, Lynch also washed
his hands of any involvement with
the water.
After speaking with her supervisor,
an immigration officer told the
court she had been informed by the
Chief Immigration Officer that she
would be making a request to the
Prime Minister for Langford, Lynch
and Royal to be deported.
Davis, however, was fined $500 to
be paid in one month after his boss
informed the court he would provide
him with accommodation. He was
placed on $1 000 bail with one surety
and returns to court next month.
Two officers from the Town &
Country Planning Department who
were also in court served Davis with a
notice of illegally erecting a structure
on land at Goodland Gardens.
When contacted, the upset
landlord, who has been left holding
a bill for $49 000 from the Barbados
Water Authority, said she was very
disappointed that someone was not
charged with the removal of lumber
from her container, as well as the
removal of items such as a bed, stove,
refrigerator and microwave from the
apartments.
She said police informed her that
she could not prove the items belonged
to her.

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