The Roman Catholic Church has emerged victorious in a lengthy legal battle with a family over control of a property on Monos Island used for its sea scouting activities.
Delivering a decision, late last month, three Law Lords of the United Kingdom-based Privy Council refused siblings Martha and Dean Joseph leave to pursue a final appeal in their lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Port-of-Spain.
In their failed appeal, the siblings were claiming that High Court Judge Eleanor Donaldson-Honeywell and three Court of Appeal Judges got it wrong when they dismissed their case and upheld the RC Church’s claim to the property.
The dispute related to a one-acre parcel of land on the island, off the coast of Chaguaramas, known as “Copperhole”.
The property got its unofficial name as in the early 20th century, it was used by whalers as a location to melt whale blubber in large copper pots.
It was part of the United States Navy base during World War II. It was eventually returned to T&T in 1969 and was subsequently vested in the Chaguaramas Development Authority(CDA).
The church and the family both utilised the property and co-existed for decades before the siblings’ now deceased father blocked the church from accessing the property in 2004, leading to the lawsuit.
The church claimed that it began using the property for sea scouting activities in the 1950s with the permission of US military officials. It also claimed that it had an application with the CDA to formalise its occupation that has been pending since 1996.
The church also claimed that the siblings’ father was the caretaker of the property.
The Josephs denied the church’s claims as they contended that their family began occupying the property in 1955 when their grandfather built a hut on it.
They claimed that their family constructed an annexe to the building utilised by the church, and lived there for decades.
In 2009, the structure occupied by both parties was burnt to the ground. A small galvanised building at the edge of the property, used by Dean as a boat house, was not razed in the fire.
In deciding the case in 2018, Justice Donaldson-Honeywell upheld the church’s interest in the land.
Delivering a judgment in July, last year, Appellate Judges Prakash Moosai, Vasheist Kokaram, and Carla Brown-Antoine dismissed an appeal from the siblings.
The appeal panel found that, based on the evidence, the judge was correct to rule that the Josephs did not adversely possess the land.
“The trial judge therefore has not been shown to be plainly wrong in arriving at her declarations of possession at Copperhole,” Justice Kokaram said.
“While usually all that is sufficient is that the Josephs prove they have been living there, in these unique circumstances, it is plausible they were there through the occupation of Khaki and they were uncertain as to whether his occupation was at the behest of the RC Church,” he added.
