The Tribune

By Farah Johnson

fjohnson@tribunemedia.net

A LANDLORD who threatened to harm a tenant who refused to comply with his eviction orders was charged in the Magistrate’s Court on Friday

Phillip Carey, 50, appeared before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes after he was accused of threatening to harm Patrice Mackey on May 26.

He pleaded guilty and was fined $400 or three months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services.

Prosecutor Lincoln McKenzie told the court that around 9.15am that day, Ms Mackey went to a nearby station to report that her landlord, Phillip Carey, wanted her out of his apartment by all means. At the time, Ms Mackey told officers that Carey threatened to “chap her with a cutlass and mince her like crawfish” if she did not leave his property. As a result, Carey was arrested and taken to a nearby station, where he admitted to having an argument with the complainant in an interview with police.

When given an opportunity to speak during the hearing, Carey told the magistrate that he and his wife owned a two-storey complex and rented rooms on the first floor while they lived upstairs. He said he and his wife had given Ms Mackey an eviction notice from April 8, but she had yet to leave the premises. He also said Ms Mackey had attempted to come upstairs to the part of the complex where he and his wife were staying, so he threatened her so she could understand “she had no right to be up there".

After sentencing Carey, Magistrate Forbes told him that he should have attempted to evict the tenant legally instead of threatening her.