Paramin farmer ordered to vacate RC church's land

A PARAMIN farmer who wrote to the Pope after being sued by the Archbishop of Port of Spain has been ordered to vacate the grounds of the Our Lady of Guadalupe RC Church, Paramin.

Jude St Hilaire was also given a little over three months to remove his fruit stall and an unfinished concrete building from the church’s property. He has until February 28, 2025 to give up possession, remove items he wants to take and relocate.

St Hilaire wanted a year, but Justice Frank Seepersad denied this request.

On November 11, Seepersad upheld a claim by the Archbishop of Port of Spain filed in 2023. He said based on the evidence, the church was entitled to judgment.

The church was also allowed to issue a writ of possession so it could enforce the court’s judgment if St Hilaire fails to move out by the end of February next year.

St Hilaire was also ordered to stop further construction of a second structure on the church’s lands at Saut D'Eau Road, Paramin, Maraval.

In deciding the case, the judge said St Hilaire failed to prove he had occupied and controlled the land since 1972. He also said the evidence also showed St Hilaire has not been in adverse possession of the land exclusively for a period of 16 years, as provided for by law.

In Trinidad and Tobago, to obtain ownership by adverse possession, the occupier of land must prove they have been in exclusive, continuous and uninterrupted possession for at least 16 years.

According to the judge, the church’s documentary evidence showed from 1995, it exercised its “assertive rights.”

In the claim, the church said in June 2023, its property management department received a report from the Maraval parish that St Hilaire was building a second structure.

On visiting the site, staff saw the 12-by-15 foot building.

The archbishop's team hired surveyors to determine the church’s property, who found St Hilaire had put the building within the church’s boundaries.

According to the claim, during an attempt to deliver the survey notices, the defendant became extremely hostile towards a member of the property management department, a Mr Pallai, and the surveyor, a Mr Mahabir, used obscene language to them and demanded that they leave the land.

“Attempts were made to have cordial conversations with the defendant. The claimant’s agents told the defendant that it was the church's lands and they needed to cease construction of the building and vacate the said lands.

“The verbal berating continued by the defendant and he attempted to chase Mr Mahabir and his employees from the location. The defendant further claimed that the said lands belonged to the State and he was advised by his attorneys that he had a right to occupy the said lands,” the claim said.

Sterling Pillai, property projects officer at Archbishop’s House, and surveyor Rishi Mohan Mahabir testified at the trial on November 11.

St Hilaire and his sister testified in their defence and in support of his counter-claim against the church, but it was dismissed.

St Hilaire was ordered to pay the church $14,000 to cover its legal costs.

Shortly after the church filed the lawsuit, St Hilaire’s attorney wrote to Pope Francis asking for his help to intervene and mediate the matter.

Attorney Dave McKenzie said St Hilaire, a “good and faithful” Roman Catholic, wanted the matter resolved peacefully.

He claimed St Hilaire and “his ancestors were in occupation of the land for 29 years” before the church was built.

The lawyer likened the church to “a Goliath of sorts,” by “seeking to use its fiscal and political might and power to intimidate the small man, a David of sorts, in what could be seen as a David-versus-Goliath type scenario which could leave a bitter taste in the mouths of His Holiness' 350,000 plus congregants here in the Republic of TT, and even more so in the wider Caribbean region and internationally.”

McKenzie told the Pope the matter had caused his client “ extreme stress and bewilderment.” He said St Hillaire was “just a simple poor farmer trying to ply his trade on lands he insists was occupied by his ancestors…since 1972.”

McKenzie’s letter to the Pope was copied to Archbishop Jason Gordon.

Senior Counsel Gregory Delzin represented the archbishop.