The man at the centre of yesterday's Dock Hill stand-off told successfully appealed an attempt by the Bermuda Housing Corporation to evict him just two weeks ago.

Caesar Graham told The Royal Gazette that he had been surprised to receive an eviction notice from the BHC last week because he appealed the amount the organisation said he owed on September 3.

And at the court hearing in Magistrates' Court, he said it was agreed that he owed $6,000, not $9,000 as the BHC claimed, and the Magistrate ordered him to pay $600 a month until the arrears were cleared.

Mr. Graham, 30, who yesterday threatened to set his home on fire rather than be evicted, said he fell behind in his rent after he was unfairly dismissed from his job last summer, but said that he had been trying to catch up on his arrears for his $900-a-month apartment.

Mr. Graham said that apart from losing his job in the last year, he and his partner had also suffered the loss of one of their newly-born premature twins.

"It all began when I was unfairly dismissed from my job last year and I tried to fight it," Mr. Graham told The Royal Gazette last week. "I had paid $2,800 to a lawyer and then he lost the papers.

"I then began to fall behind in my rent, but I was trying to hustle when I was not working and was able to pay $5,260 out of $9,900.

"At the moment I still owe $6,000 to the BHC and I am trying to get my payments up to date."

Mr. Graham was also jailed last year for the non-payment of a traffic fine, had a baby and when released from prison, got his partner pregnant with a set of twins.

"I couldn't afford to get my car licensed and insured, but I still needed to get to work. I got caught by the Police and couldn't afford the fine, and then I went to prison because I couldn't get anyone to pay the $1,000," said Mr. Graham.

"I had my daughter last September and then when I came out of prison, my girlfriend got pregnant again.

"She had the twins prematurely and one is still in a Boston hospital and the other one has died.

"It was a bad time, but I was trying to work it out," he said.

Mr. Graham, who was working at the Adult Library and at The Centre in the evenings, said when he was unemployed he looked hard for a job.

"I was looking for a job, but I couldn't find one, so I did whatever hustles I could," said Mr. Graham.

"I then got Financial Assistance between March, April and May of this year and then I got a job in the library and I began working at The Centre again in the evenings."

Mr. Graham said at the moment he has a combined income of $800 a week and that it would have been difficult to pay the $600 and his rent of $900, but said he would have done it.

"I felt like I was finally getting back on my feet and starting to pay off bills and now I am faced with an eviction notice," he said.

"I don't know what I will do, I have nowhere else to go.

"Sometimes life knocks you down, but I refuse to stay down. I didn't go out and rob anyone, I was trying.

"I always believe there has to be a way."

Mr. Caesar said he went to the BHC after receiving the eviction notice last week to try to renegotiate and told them what the judgment was in court.

"But they said they will only accept payment in full and that was the only way I could stay in the apartment," he said.

"They said that sometimes they put a charge of two months on one month - they said it was their policy. I wonder how many other people this was happening to.

"The date on the eviction notice had just been written in and I question if they really had it all this time, and if so, why didn't they put it up on my door before?"

He said the BHC told him that they had re-filed the eviction notice and that it had been delayed because he had appealed.

Now Mr. Caesar will be back in court to explain his actions.

Housing Minister Terry Lister and BHC general manager Vance Campbell were not available for comment last night.