Man loses thousands in forced eviction

National, Normal
Source:

By JEFFREY ELAPA

A MAN lost thousands of kina worth of properties when his trade store was bulldozed under supervision from heavily-armed policemen at Figgy street section 18 lot 14 in Hohola  Two in the National Capital District yesterday.
Owner Steven Peopokon said the armed police converged at the site with a backhoe and demolished the building not allowing him to save anything from the house.
He said he erected the building beside his house on a piece of land after living there for many years but a person believed to be from the Highlands region, who is a policeman attached to the Boroko police station, obtained title to the land.
Copies of document sighted by The National indicated that the land was transferred to a person (named) but according to sources the person is believed to be a teenage son of the policeman.
The policeman claimed that the land was his and went to court and obtained a default judgment when the respondent failed to appear before the court.
The court then ordered a warrant of eviction in June, however, the respondent then went to court to obtain court summons for a stay order for the exercise and was set for next Monday.
However, Peopokon said while the stay order was pending, more than 20 armed policemen came in four vehicles  from different sections of the force and bulldozed the entire building.
Peopokon, who was lost in words, said his store was fully-stocked and more than  K15,000 worth of goods were destroyed while other items such as snooker tables, fridges, gaming machines and his personal items were destroyed in the exercise.
Meanwhile, NCD metropolitan commander Supt Fred Yakasa, when contacted, could not confirm if he had given permission to the exercise because he had signed several other documents as ordered by the court.