Latest update June 29th, 2026 12:37 AM
Jun 30, 2012 News
…breaks woman’s hand
A woman is now suffering from a broken arm after workers from the Ministry of Housing dismantled her house while she was asleep.
During the demolition, one of the pieces of wood which was above the woman’s head, reportedly fell and hit her on her right arm.
The injured Seebie Khan, 44, and her husband, Nandran Persaud, 40, have squatted at Lot 699 Good Hope, East Coast Demerara. Without notice, workers from the Ministry of Housing walked in the
people’s house and started to dismantle it.
According to Persaud, he and his wife have been living at a rented property for the past few years but they could not afford the rent and were forced to move. He, however, claimed that he saw the empty swampy land and talked to a few neighbours, who told him that the land was empty for the past 15 and more years.
Persaud said he then used the last cent in his pocket to construct a little frame, where he and his wife spent three days. During the building process, the family was forced to sleep in an empty old bus, which was parked in front of the yard.
Yesterday morning however, while Khan was asleep, three workers from the Ministry of Housing entered the house and walked out back towards their vehicle and collected a crow-bar and started to break the shack.
According to Persaud, he pleaded with the men to give him a day’s time but instead, they threatened to call the police if he raised his voice. His wife was sound asleep and did not hear the noise from outside but when the men “fired the first crow-bar, the whole front came crashing down on her.”
“I beg them a lot and they just threaten me, I couldn’t say anything, one of them was some Lord and when the wood fall on my wife I couldn’t say anything.”

The man and his wife stands among the woods and household items minutes after their home was dismantled
In 2009, a fire destroyed the family’s house and they were told that their house was built on Government reserve. “Since then I have been applying to housing on numerous occasions for a house lot but up to now they can’t help me.”
Calls to the Ministry of Housing for a comment were unanswered.
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