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Imagine one day coming home to find that your house and all your possessions had mysteriously disappeared. Well, for one man, he doesn't have to imagine.
Norman Gibson landed at the PGIA at 5:30 on Sunday. When he arrived at his Berry Street address in Lake Independence, every single one of his possessions had been removed from his yard. According to him, it's his wife - whom he has been separated from - that stole his house and everything in it.
Now, Gibson is forced to sleep in the only standing structure in the yard - the outhouse. He came to our studio appealing for help. Courtney Menzies has this story.
This book - aptly titled Love's Executioner - lies discarded on the ground where Norman Gibson's house used to sit. That's because his wife allegedly took the home and everything in it.
Gibson, who has lived on Berry Street for almost 3 decades, has been in Los Angeles for the past year, receiving medical treatment and also working. Before that, he lived in one half of the apartment building that was on the lot. His wife had lived in the next half for the past 6 years.
But then this past weekend, Gibson got a call from his neighbor that his house was being torn down. He came home on Sunday - about a month earlier than he planned - and found nothing but the outhouse.
Norman Gibson
"Total surprise. Like… just, you know, surprised."
Courtney Menzies
"And when you inquired, maybe to your neighbors or so, what did they tell you?"
Norman Gibson
"That my wife brought some people here to break the house down."
Courtney Menzies
"Did she tell anybody why she was doing it?"
Norman Gibson
"No."
Courtney Menzies
"And she hasn't been in contact with you at all?"
Norman Gibson
"No."
Courtney Menzies
"To your knowledge, why do you think she would do something like this?"
Norman Gibson
"Hate."
Courtney Menzies
"So you guys had a tumultuous relationship?"
Norman Gibson
"Yeah. And I told her it's over. So she started hating."
Courtney Menzies
"But you allowed her to stay in the house."
Norman Gibson
"Yes."
Courtney Menzies
"Nobody knows where the house is now?"
Norman Gibson
"No ma'am."
And so this is where Gibson has been living since Sunday - inside the small outhouse, sleeping on a child's mattress, next to a broken toilet, with nothing but the two suitcases he returned with. The situation has left him completely exasperated.
Norman Gibson
"Frustrated, confusion, I'm not even thinking straight. When Mr Jules asked me where I was, I told him I was in Los Angeles, and I meant to say Angelus Press so you see my confusion and how I'm not taking it too good."
"Everything I've tried to do. I've been to Belmopan at the Lands office about 4 times, just turning me around, sending me here, sending me there, go here, go there… [sighs]."
Courtney Menzies
"Whose name was on the house, who did it belong to?"
Norman Gibson
"It was for my brother-in-law."
Courtney Menzies
"And so are you in contact with them, what did they tell you?"
Norman Gibson
"Well, apparently he didn't do the right paperwork, because it was a leased land. And he didn't finish the process or something, all he had a parcel number and the lease number and when he told me about the land, he asked me if I wanted to come stay back here because he didn't want to come back here because of the neighborhood so I told him, yeah, I'll come and I came and I started to build the place, I kept the place clean, I paid tax and everything and that's how I ended up with it."
And with no clue how to move forward, Gibson is asking for assistance for any authority who can help him get back into his home.
Norman Gibson
"I just want my place back, that's all, I just want my place back. No problem, nothing, just give me back what I had. Because she obtained the land through deception, fraud. She went and told - I don't know who in the government she spoke to. She went and told them that I had abandoned the land for 6 or 7 years, something like that and I left the place but it's not true. I have all my neighbors that can testify that it's not true."
Courtney Menzies
"And right now you have nobody else to stay with?"
Norman Gibson
"No ma'am."
Courtney Menzies
"have you reported it to the police at all?"
Norman Gibson
"Yes."
Courtney Menzies
"So they have a report?"
Norman Gibson
"Yes."
Courtney Menzies
"They didn't tell you anything?"
Norman Gibson
"They can't do anything. I tried to get them to charge her for the house and the stuff in the house, they say they can't do anything. They say I have to take it to the court."
But for now and the foreseeable future, Gibson will have to spend another night sleeping in the outhouse.
Gibson is hoping that his area rep and Minister of Natural Resources will intervene to assist him.