The Tribune

MINISTER of Tourism and Aviation Dionisio D’Aguilar threatened legal action against a group he alleged had taken possession of a vacant lot next door to his home, a situation which led to a confrontation with his wife and an unidentified man that was shared on social media yesterday.

The video, captured on a cell phone, showed Mr D’Aguilar’s wife arguing with a man at a property across the street from a beach. Mrs D’Aguilar is heard screaming “this is my land” before the man recording interrupts and asks her why she was “pulling up” his fence.

She then asks him why he had taken down her trees. The two then argue about who owned the land in question. The man also recorded Mrs D’Aguilar pulling up steel poles from the ground which he claimed were a part of his fence.

When contacted about the incident, Mr D’Aguilar released a statement, which alleged: “An individual . . .and a group of friends turned up a week ago and decided to take possession of the vacant land next door to my home which is not owned by them.

“Yesterday, they hired a bulldozer and cleared down vegetation and started to occupy the land by building a shack,” he alleged. “They are classic land grabbers and my wife was quite rightly upset by the destruction that they caused on land that she had nurtured and landscaped at the behest of the legitimate owners over many, many years.

“These land grabbers, with no legitimate title, need to be stopped and it is my full intention to do so within the confines of the law and with the full support of the legitimate owners.”

He said the group should “cease and desist from causing further destruction to property that they do not own and to vacate the land forthwith.”

The Free Town MP said police were called to the scene and he claimed they told the man in question to stop working on the land.

“The owners are moving aggressively to get an injunction to get him (to) cease and desist and vacate the property,” the statement added.