The case which Reverend John A. Gumbs won in the Privy Council in London recently is one which shows that a person cannot be arbitrarily deprived of his or her land by the Government of any country.

I am not aware of the details, but the Government should have ensured that it was acting correctly before proceeding to use the portion of land owned by Rev. Gumbs to construct a section of the road to Limestone Bay.

I was prompted to write this letter and to ask you to publish it after I heard the press release earlier this week from the Chief Minister’s Office based on information from the Law Office of J.A.G. and Co. It might have been worthwhile for the judgment to have been published to give members of the public an opportunity to read for themselves what the Privy Council said in its ruling.

It is not known exactly what the Privy Council said about compensation for Rev. Gumbs, but the press release stated that he was seeking payment from the Government regarding trespassing on his property for 29 years for the use of the road by the public. As I said above, it was his land but I am wondering whether he could “temper justice with mercy” by forgoing this particular request in the interest of the public, now that he has proven his case and got back his land. Surely, there must be other forms of compensation available.

Did the Privy Council rule that he should be paid for trespass?

Name withheld at writer’s request

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