A Pembroke man felt he was being railroaded by the Bermuda Housing Corporation when he locked himself in his apartment and placed a bowl of gasoline in the doorway as a warning to BHC staff and Police.

Caesar Taze Grahame, 31, from Cedar Park testified in the Supreme Court on Thursday that 19 months of ?not being taken seriously? by BHC and then facing eviction from his apartment after Fabian hit the Island, was too much for him.

Grahame pleaded not guilty to charges which include placing explosive materials inside the North Shore property on September 15, 2003 and trespassing and damaging a door to the property on September 16, 2003.

Grahame told the court that he moved into the BHC property on North Shore Road in July, 2001 and lived there, paid his rent and didn?t have any problems until he lost his job.

Things were only made worse, he said, when he faced going to jail because of outstanding traffic fines of $2,000.

Since he only had enough money to pay the rent or pay the fines, he opted to pay his rent.

He said he called BHC and told them he would be going to jail for the outstanding fines, but they told him he would be evicted.

Grahame said he gave his apartment keys to a friend and asked him to sell his things so that he could pay his rent, but when his friend went to the apartment they (BHC) had changed the locks.

?BHC gave the new keys to my friend and told him to remove all my things on the same day... which he couldn?t do,? he said.

After two months at the Co-ed Facility, Grahame said he was released and went to BHC to pick up his keys.

?They gave them to me and said arrangements had been made for me to be moved out,? he said.

Not willing to give up, Grahame applied for financial aid ? which he got ? and paid his rent, but he said he was still in arrears.

He said he wrote to BHC asking for advice, but they simply replied with ?payment in full or get out?.

BHC took the matter to court, but he missed the court date because he had to work.

?I had to pay the rent,? he said.

He said he later learned that the money BHC claimed in court that he owed them was not the correct amount ? and he had the receipts to prove it.

Grahame said he appealed, but Magistrate Edward King would not hear him in court and did not want to see his receipts ? once again ruling in BHC?s favour.

Grahame said he had since become a father and had asked his girlfriend and the baby to move into his apartment as she was willing to help him pay the rent

?I got a letter from BHC just before Christmas telling me to ?kick my friend and the baby out? because they weren?t allowed to stay there,? he said.

Grahame said he also received a bill from BHC with an additional $3,000 for ?lawyers fees?.

However, following another lengthy court battle, the Magistrate agreed that he only owed BHC $600.

Everything went well for a while until his girlfriend gave birth to premature twins who needed to flown to the US for medical care.

A visibly upset Grahame cried as he told the court that one of the baby boys died and he returned to Bermuda to his new job at the Bermuda Public Library only to be told that he would not be paid for the week he missed.

He also learnt that due to a clerical error, he also would not get paid for the week he?d just worked and once again he was unable to pay the rent.

Grahame said he made arrangements with Belco and the telephone company to pay his bills when he could, but BHC would not return his calls, or help him.

On September 10, 2003, he said he found a poster on his apartment door telling him that he had to be out on September 15.

?I called the Acting Minister of Housing Neletha Butterfield for help and she said she would see what she could do, but when I saw her a few days later she said that she was only the Minister until the Sunday and would pass my details on,? he said.

Graham said he spent the weekend trying to find somewhere else to live, but because of Fabian and the fact that most of the Island was still trying to recover, he failed in securing another apartment.

?I wasn?t too worried because I thought the Minister would help me, but then a large truck pulled up on the Monday morning and the driver told me it was my moving day,? he said.

Grahame said he refused and locked himself in his apartment.

?I just wanted them to take me seriously,? he said. ?I just wanted them to listen to me.?

He said BHC staff arrived and threatened to call the Police to break his door down and drag him out.

Grahame said he was working on his car at the time and took some gasoline he had been using to clean spark-plugs and poured it into a bowl which he put near the front door.

?When they smelt that they took me seriously,? he said. ?I was thinking about my daughter coming home and my son and that they wouldn?t have anywhere to live. I was emotional and yes, I cried.?

Grahame?s lawyer Larry Scott asked him about the candles and gas-soaked towels which Police later found inside the apartment.

?There was no power after Fabian so I had a lot of candles in the apartment and the towels I?d used to wipe my hands on after working on the car,? he replied.

He said he never had the lit candles anywhere near the gasoline.

?I?m not an idiot,? he said. ?I wanted them to think I would do something because I wanted to be taken seriously.?

On the charge of trespassing, Grahame said he was released by Police the following morning and told to go home, which he did, but he said he found the apartment boarded up so he broke in.

?I was shocked! The place was torn apart. I was cleaning up when the Police came and arrested me again,? he said.

Grahame is expected to be cross-examined by Crown counsel Juan Wolffe when the case continues today.