‘Tent man’ is ordered off land

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A 50-year-old man of ‘no fixed abode’ who told a court he had been living in a tent for 14 years was ordered to move out and stay off private property in Southampton.

Calvin Eugene Carmichael admitted a charge of using threatening words on June 24 before Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner yesterday.

The case stems from a series of confrontations with the owner of the property, an 80-year-old woman. Carmichael admitted telling the senior citizen: “Woman, you do not know me; I’ll burn your house down.”

Carmichael also insisted that he was granted rights to live on the property in a Supreme Court decision by former Chief Justice Richard Ground. When asked to produce the papers, he said: “I don’t have them on me right now.”

But lawyer Ricky Woolridge, who appeared for the complainant, said Carmichael was essentially a ‘squatter’ and that his client has “tried to have him removed and this behaviour ensued”.

Carmichael told the court that he had “an inalienable right to live somewhere”, and that he, together with Mt Zion AME Church, was involved in an ongoing dispute over the ownership of the empty lot of land.

Mr Warner granted the defendant a conditional discharge for 12 months for using threatening words. He also placed Carmichael on probation for 12 months with orders for him to stay off lots 13, 19 and 23 on Whaling Hill, in Southampton.

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