Homeless man 'evicted' from under Curepe interchange

The Ministry of Works and Transport “evicted” a 42-year-old homeless man from underneath the Curepe Interchange on Wednesday morning.

Ministry officials removed the man’s chairs, cardboard boxes and other belongings just after 9 am. Newsday was told the order to remove him came from the engineering department of the ministry.

Newsday spoke with the man, who gave his name. "Ramesh" (not his real name) said he had been sleeping beneath the overpass for the past two and a half months and that he would return.

In the meantime he managed to salvage a suitcase with his clothing and other personal items.

“I tote that big couch (armchair) from quite Alice Street (St Augustine)," he said. "I tote that on my shoulders and bring that down here. It heavy!”

Ramesh said he was recently released from prison after serving 21 years for various offences, including arson. With one relative, his elderly mother, in Tobago, Ramesh said he wanted to fend for himself instead of relying on her.

He discovered the shelter of the overpass after a security guard stopped him from sleeping outside a store.

“I is a criminal to my heart, so I say, ‘Boy, bess yuh find some place to rest yuh head comfortable.’ I does see about the rubbish for KFC and for Subway, and they does pay me with food. I doh thief. I doh rob. I does beg for meh lil dollar.”

Asked where he would call home, now that he had been "evicted," Ramesh said: “Right dey I going back! As I tell yuh, I is a criminal to my heart.”

Ramesh, who said he was HIV-positive but had not received medication for some time, also claimed to have stolen over 500 cars over the years. He explained how easily he could steal a car with three tools, which he named, and his fingernail.

But because, he says, he is dying, Ramesh said he has changed his life.

Asked what advice he would give to others to keep them from a life of crime and homelessness, Ramesh said: “Who have ears could hear and who have eyes could see.

“Sometimes you try to tell a youth something and it go through one ears and come out through the next. The most I could tell a youth is just try and do the right thing. Obey the ten commandments and live your life to the fullest.”

He said he would not tell youths not to drink and smoke, but if they do, they should do both at home so when they become inebriated they will not be in other people’s way and cause unnecessary trouble.

Ministry officials overseeing his removal could not say if it was part of a larger plan for cleaning up state infrastructure.

Editor's note:
Newsday has chosen not to publish the real name of the man referred to as "Ramesh" because of the incriminating statements he made about himself.