For 69-year-old Luinda McKree, March will be always remain “a month of madness”.
This is because Tuesday the senior citizen was evicted from her home in Tichbourne, Howell’s Cross Road, St Michael.
The MIDWEEK NATION was reliably informed that the property where McKree resided for about 48 years, was put up as collateral for a loan by a relative who subsequently left the island and has not returned.
The property, which consists of land and two three-bedroom concrete structures, was seized by court marshals on the behalf of the RBC Royal Bank of Canada following an ongoing court case which reportedly lasted seven years.
The elderly woman was in no state to speak to the media during yesterday’s ordeal and there were no details as to the level of the debt or the value of the property.
Chairman of the National Assistance Board (NAB), Reverend Dr David Durant, was on the scene and said he was contacted by a court marshal to lend some assistance to McKree.
He appealed to Barbadians to “count the cost” before putting their possessions up as collateral. He was concerned those types of situations were popping up way too often.
“In a case like this, when you take out a loan on a property, you have to make sure you continue to make your payments. I want people to sit down and count the costs first; that’s a basic biblical principle. Count the cost and see if you are able to once you start. This is embarrassing to everyone.
“These things are doings within families and they don’t think of the consequences that follow. The bank wants the place and of course they would have made the representation to the high courts and that order was given. I read the order so I know it’s legit,” he said.
It was also understood that McKree had no family members willing to lend assistance.
Durant said he spoke to McKree on Monday night to “prepare her . . . so that this morning wouldn’t shock her. I told her to relax and let the marshals do what they had to do because they have been given a court order and there’s nothing we can change. Time was asked for already so I couldn’t ask for any more time”.
He added the NAB would be providing temporary lodging for McKree at one of their locations and placing some of her personal belongings in a rented container.
“It’s heartbreaking to see something like that happen especially to an elderly lady. We have rented a container to put her possessions in to make sure all her things don’t go to the dump, because that’s what they were going to do. We still would like her to have something that’s sentimental to her.”
Efforts to reach a representative from RBC yesterday for comment were unsuccessful. (DB)
