By Louise Jobe/ Ndey Sowe
More than fifty compounds were on Thursday demolished in Farato by the Sheriff Division of the high court.
The demolition exercise was carried out by officers of the sheriff Division accompanied by personnel of the Police Intervention Unit.
An officer of the sheriff division who escorted the demolition team, said the area where the demolition was carried out, was owned by Manor Real Housing Estate. He said the matter which was in court, was ruled in favour of manor real estate. The man from the sheriff division also produced two documents that he showed to this reporter, writ of summon and approval letter from the Police dated 12 march 2019 for the PIU to escort the judicial staff. He expressed that they did not carry out the exercise on 12th march 2019 because they received a call from the police headquarters that they should not go ahead with the demolition because there was a problem in Berending and the PIU was going to be needed for the operation.
According to the staff from the Sheriff Division of the High Court, the said compounds were illegally sold to the affected people.
Omar Ndow who was affected by the demolition exercise said: ““I was sitting with my sister when we saw a group of people coming towards us.” He added they were later asked to take out all their belongings from their rooms so that the demolition team could embark on the exercise.
According to him, they demanded to know the reason for the action, but got no answer. He added that they did not receive any notice for the exercise.
He lamented: “All what I have worked for is invested into this house, so losing it in a single day will create another setback for me and my family. We have nothing to do right now, but to rely on God.”
