– on charges stemming from his protection of ancestral lands
By Clifford Stanley
Veteran Trades Unionist Mr Lincoln Lewis was on Friday released on self bail when he appeared in the Fort Wellington Magistrate’s Court in West Coast Berbice , Region 5 (Mahaica/Berbice) charged with assault and abusive language.
Before Magistrate R. Singh Lewis was alleged to have assaulted Radesh Lall of Kingelley Village West Coast Berbice during an altercation at Kingelly on August 13th last.
He was also alleged to have used abusive language towards Lall.
Lewis pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Lall who appeared in Court for using abusive language towards Mr Lewis was also allowed self bail .
Prior to making a decision on the way forward with the cases, the Magistrate enquired of the defendants whether the charges stemmed from a land dispute and they both responded in the affirmative.
The Magistrate transferred the cases to Weldaad Magistrate’s Court also in West Coast Berbice for report on September 10th next.
Village Voice has over the past week been reporting on a move by Mr Lewis to occupy currently unoccupied land at Kingelly Village which are a part of the village bequeathed to himself and his relatives by his great great great great grandfather Cudjoe McPherson who purchased the village in the 1860s.
Lewis is the holder of that transport and has been using same as a legal document to fence the unoccupied land in the village at Kingelly for use by his relatives who are descendants of Cudjoe McPherson.
The fencing started about two weeks ago he said in response to persons who had been attempting to illegally occupy the land particularly since the change of Government.
Meanwhile, the Police had charged several persons from Kingelly Village for using abusive language towards Mr Lewis.
These persons were a no show in Court and the Magistrate ordered that they be issued with summons to attend court for hearing with the other cases on September 10th next..
