Dear Editor,
A landed proprietor (name provided) has taken me to court for the fifth time now in relation to a seven-acre plot of rice land located at Aurora on the Essequibo Coast. On each occasion I had to spend thousands of dollars to get legal representation which I can ill afford since I am a sickly 68-year-old pensioner who is very impecunious.
This matter had engaged the attention of the Assessment Court in the district for four years before a different magistrate every time, but the plaintiff was never successful with his claim.
Now on the fifth occasion, there is an action fixed for the Georgetown High Court in relation to the same land.
There is a functioning High Court at Suddie where judges are assigned to do civil matters as well as criminal, and further suffering is being placed on me to travel all the way to the city. What makes it worse is that I am deaf, and further expenses will be incurred to take along someone to communicate with me.
It is well known that the High Court at Suddie was established to eliminate the inconvenience and hardship being encountered by litigants to go to Georgetown, including the high cost of getting there, but it seems that the same old problem still exists. It is very costly to travel to the city especially via the speedboat route which is dependable, as compared to the steamer service which no longer works on time but on tide.
Both of us are neighbours with the subject matter being the land just nearby, and it would have been better to fix the case for the Suddie High Court instead of the Georgetown High Court.
Yours faithfully,
Massabally
Editor’s note
We are sending a copy of this letter to Chief Justice Ian Chang for any comment he might wish to make.
