Outgoing Ombudsman Arlene Brock says her investigation into the “sad and unnecessary” desecration of historic tombstones at Tucker’s Point has been the hardest to conduct during her eight years in office.

Ms Brock, who is soon to be replaced by lawyer Victoria Pearman, told The Royal Gazette she was baffled by the decision of Marsden First United Methodist Church to raze the tombstones and replace them with a “dignified lawn”, on the advice of archaeologists Edward Harris and John Triggs.

Many of the tombs are believed to have been there since at least the 1860s and were the final resting place of countless enslaved and free blacks who owned and worked the area for more than 200 years.

The land was subject to a compulsory acquisition order in 1920 to make way for a hotel and the community was displaced to other parts of the Island.

Dr Harris, director of the National Museum of Bermuda, and Dr Triggs, from Wilfred Laurier University in Canada, concluded that the tombs were “false” and were put in place in 1991 or 1992 — a belief Ms Brock says could have been quickly dispelled with just a couple of telephone calls.

“It’s the hardest one because it’s so sad and because it’s so unnecessary,” said Ms Brock of her inquiry, which was prompted by a complaint from Citizens Uprooting Racism (CURB).

“It’s very sad. Leave the graves. There was no reason. I have not been given a reason. I don’t get it. I don’t understand it.”

Her report ‘A Grave Error’, released on January 31, criticised the Department of Planning for failing to implement an earlier recommendation she made to give the Marsden Methodist Memorial Cemetery an extra layer of protection as a historic monument.

The Ombudsman said the tombstones wouldn’t have been destroyed had planning officials started the process of consulting to implement the recommendation to list the cemetery.

The Department of Planning has responded to the report, insisting it was not to blame for the “damaging actions undertaken by others, which resulted in the destruction of the tombstones”, and claiming Ms Brock “misunderstood” its response to her initial recommendation.

But Ms Brock told The Royal Gazette yesterday: “The report took the Department’s response into consideration and addresses these responses based on all the evidence on the civil standard of evidence.”

She said Government’s inaction did constitute maladministration under section two of the Ombudsman Act.

Ms Brock added: “Section 16 of the Act contemplates that government departments will implement recommendations unless it is inappropriate to do so.

“The Government never gave a credible reason that it would be inappropriate to implement the recommendation. So the real question is — why their inaction?”

Her report reveals that the former director of the Department of Planning told her in an interview that her recommendation “slipped under the radar”.

She writes: “No action was taken, despite the Ministry’s undertaking to do so.”

Ms Brock said yesterday that the Department’s claim that she “misunderstood” that its intention was merely to review her recommendation was “unproductive”.

She said under section 16 of the Ombudsman Act, there were three possible answers to recommendations, which could be answered in one of three ‘columns’: what has been done to implement, what will be done to implement or reasons for not implementing.

“I gave the Government a clear grid to follow in responding. The Government responded in column two. That is [to say] they will take steps to implement.

“If they had wanted to say ‘we may or may not implement depending on whether or not we decide to bother to undergo a process of consulting and whether the Minister feels like listing’, then they should have responded under column three.

“The energy spent on attacking me and [on saying] ‘can’t do’ would be better spent on acknowledging the inaction and figuring out how to ‘can do’.”

Dr Harris, a columnist for this newspaper, has refused to answer questions about the Ombudsman’s report and Dr Triggs has declined to comment.

Opposition leader Marc Bean, who was Environment Minister during 2012 when the recommendation was made, claimed last week that Ms Brock’s “credibility is in question and her legacy is tarnished”.

Marsden pastor Joseph Whalen and Rosewood Tucker’s Point general manager Paul Telford have not responded to requests for comment.

‘A Grave Error’ is available online at www.ombudsman.bm.