Court draws line between
Pointe Blanche properties
PHILIPSBURG--The Court of First Instance ruled in favour of members of the Buncamper family recently in a conflict concerning ownership of a piece of land next to Juancho Yrausquin Boulevard.
In his ruling of April 25 in the injunction, Judge Willem Jan Noordhuizen ordered Bernard Priest to vacate the contested piece of land at the east side of Yrausquin Boulevard near the St. Peter battery across from Chesterfields restaurant, which borders on the south with land belonging to Albert Buncamper.
Pending the outcome of the formal court case on the matter, Priest is no longer allowed to enter the premises and destroy, damage or remove trees, plants, rocks and other material.
In his verdict, the Judge imposed a fine of US $25,000 for every violation of this stipulation to a maximum of $2,500,000. The Court further authorised members of the Buncamper family to have Priest removed from their property by force of law.
Priest was also ordered to pay for the cost of the legal proceedings, estimated at NAf. 2,196.
The Buncamper family became owners of the contested property in 1983, after the Joint Court had ruled in a case against the Island Government that the family was owner of this piece of land.
Priest contended that the certificate of admeasurement describing the boundaries of this property was incorrect. He stated that his property was not bordered to the south by property of Albert Buncamper but by land knows as the Battery, which according to him did not belong to the Buncampers.
He founded his claim on a deed of sale made up in 1973 when Aguila Paresilia Priest bought the property from the Fleming family, during which the same reservations were made.
There is also a legal battle concerning the property going on between the Fleming and Buncamper families.
In the meantime, Priest had carried out work on the property. In March 2008, he had written a letter to the Kadaster (Land Registry) indicating that the letter of admeasurement was incorrect and that his property was not bordered to the south by Buncamper land.
The Buncampers did not gain a complete victory in the injunction. The judge indicated that they could not prove that the property was legally theirs, but neither could Priest.
Awaiting the outcome of the formal court case in this matter, Judge Noordhuizen drew a provisional line between the Buncamper and Priest properties, forbidding Priest to cross the line.
