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SCB landlord pleads guilty to sewage flow nuisance

Corentz Richardson pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to comply with a notice of abatement of a nuisance in relation to his property located at Albion Estate in Sea Cows Bay. Photo: VINO
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Magistrate Dr Velon L. John roundly chastised property owner Corentz Richardson for continuing to break the law when he appeared before the Magistrate’s Court today, April 17, 2014.

Richardson pleaded guilty to the charge of failing to comply with a notice of abatement of a nuisance in relation to his property located at Albion Estate in Sea Cows Bay.

The notice was first issued to Richardson on January 25, 2012 but Magistrate John decried the fact that more than two years later the problem had not been remedied.

“2012? That’s ridiculous!” Magistrate John exclaimed before Richardson offered to explain the reason for the delays. Magistrate John said the issue was a question of the health of the community as he saw it and expressed that it was sheer nonsense.

“Why is it [that] this thing took so long and the nuisance hasn’t abated?” he asked.

According to the allegations read in court, two officers of the Environmental Health Department responded on November 15, 2011 to a nuisance complaint in the Albion, Sea Cows Bay area. One of the officers observed sewage effluent with a repulsive odour flowing on to the street from the defendant’s premises.

Raw sewage reportedly flowed along the street to the front of the driveway of the property of Mr Vernon Walwyn and to the driveway of Mr Elroy Leonard. Leonard later constructed a 4” wall to divert the flow of the sewage from his driveway. It was further stated that persons travelling along the roadway were exposed to disease which concerned the officers. Photos were taken on the said day and later on January 23, 2012 but nothing was changed.

On January 25, 2012 another notice of abatement was served on the defendant at his Whelk’s Point address. He was instructed to empty the existing tank and cease and desist in the discharge of the effluent into an area of the tank that was too large to hold. He was further instructed to contract a waste disposal company to empty the septic tank as often as necessary and take a copy of the contract to the Environmental Health Department.

Another visit by Environmental Health Officers on March 14, 2012 showed that nothing had changed yet again prompting the Chief Environmental Officer to appear in court on February 21, 2014 to state that the nuisance remained till then despite promises by Mr Richardson to address the issue after speaking with him.

Meanwhile, Richardson told the court today that he pumped the overflow on several occasions but the issue kept recurring every two weeks and had become an expensive undertaking.

He alleged that Mr Walwyn prevented his workers from addressing the problem correctly on several occasions and requested that Walwyn be written a letter by the court in order to facilitate the works.

Magistrate John would have none of the excuses however and undertook to visit the site today in order to have a better idea of the situation and its effects. He said the situation must be resolved between April and May.

19 Responses to “SCB landlord pleads guilty to sewage flow nuisance”

  • ?? (17/04/2014, 15:04) Like (3) Dislike (22) Reply
    Was myrun in on this too?
    • Annoyed (17/04/2014, 16:33) Like (14) Dislike (5) Reply
      @ ?? Get a life go back to school and learn to spell .Oh you are such and idiot. Learn to spell he man's name properly. What the hell would he have to do with this?
      • Brendon (18/04/2014, 11:33) Like (5) Dislike (1) Reply
        @ Annoyed..Before you correct someone's spelling, you should check yours too. Honestly, (he man's name instead of the man's name) See how silly it is to correct someone, we all hit the send button before thoroughly checking our spelling, me included. We're only human and it does not mean we did not have proper education, like yourself.
  • Seedless (17/04/2014, 15:56) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    It will be interesting to see what the Magistrate's ruling will be in this case.
  • east end people (17/04/2014, 16:40) Like (2) Dislike (0) Reply
    this east end people like to do this look at east end.............
  • Airrion (17/04/2014, 16:48) Like (15) Dislike (1) Reply

    You see where he lives at Welke's Point away from the sewerage. Dumb Basta_ _d doesn't even care about people's health and caused a owner to build a wall to divert his waste. If I were the owner I would sue him for the cost of the material and labor. Collect collect collect is all some landlords do and never repair with the rent money that it was intended for. Sorry A.. s..fish man.

    • pat (17/04/2014, 18:08) Like (8) Dislike (0) Reply
      and it took 2 yrs to follow up? Why does it take so long to have violations addressed? This happens all over.
      There is also a sewage pipe in Havers (or is it Pockwood) area to the ocean where there are even SIGNS saying no fishing or bathing. A warning! Yet it still goes on.. why?
  • cay (17/04/2014, 17:57) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
    Lawd ah mussy dats to sweet
  • wize up (18/04/2014, 05:59) Like (0) Dislike (2) Reply
    too-sweet; you run things !!!!!!
  • long look me come from (18/04/2014, 10:12) Like (3) Dislike (5) Reply
    only becaue he from here they treating him so!
    • they hate locals (18/04/2014, 11:49) Like (2) Dislike (6) Reply
      i must agree so much island man doing this and not a word from the courts or TCP
    • East me come from too (19/04/2014, 07:38) Like (1) Dislike (0) Reply
      It does not matter where come from, thats not good for himself or others. He is to dam worthless. He feels he is above the law. Bind mind and low moral towards others.
  • Alexander (18/04/2014, 11:40) Like (5) Dislike (1) Reply
    @ long look me come from. This is not true, I am from England and I was told to fix my property that was offending my neighbors and was given a short time to do it in, or be fined for each day it wasn't after the initial time was issued, so it is not just people who were born here that are being warned. As a matter of fact, he got a much longer time period to fix his problem than I did. I have lived here 17 years and when I purchased my home, it already had sewerage problems, but I fixed it within 2 months.
  • apple pie (18/04/2014, 11:49) Like (1) Dislike (10) Reply
    free the man he did nothing worng
  • Fan (18/04/2014, 20:26) Like (0) Dislike (3) Reply
    Poor my partner
  • question (20/04/2014, 11:45) Like (0) Dislike (1) Reply
    how come they picking on he and it have a lot of others doing the same thing and getting away scott free?
    • grace (24/04/2014, 20:54) Like (0) Dislike (0) Reply
      So because there are so many others he should not be fined? We have to start cracking down on these irresponsible people and he is the chosen one to start with. I don't know why you are complaining, our health is more important than hurting someone's feeling because he feels they are being picked on.


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