Local News

Erection of caution tape angers St Joseph resident

25 January 2025
This content originally appeared on Barbados Nation News.

A St Joseph resident who is party to a lawsuit challenging the construction of a wall at the Joe’s River Bridge is questioning why the developer has erected caution tape along the gully when an injunction was still in place.

Victor Lewis, of Joe’s River, who is among the residents and visitors who hike in the area, said he was shocked to see the caution tape there last Sunday. He said that it prevented people from entering the gully – the very situation which they feared and which prompted them to file the court action two years ago.

He told the Weekend Nation about being confronted by the landowner, Australian Richard Hains, who has built a multi-million dollar villa and beach house. He said Hains informed him that he was trespassing and that he could not even drive his vehicle up to the bridge, something which Lewis said had been done by the public for many years.

“I come here and I see the caution tape and as I was lifting it to duck under I heard this voice behind me say, ‘Don’t move them’. I looked up and I saw a man. He said, ‘No, you can’t go through here’ and that he put the tape there as a matter of caution.

“I said, ‘No, you can’t be putting them there as a matter of caution, because the area here leads to the Joe’s River gully and these steps should not be across here to block my passage to the Joe’s River gully.”

“He said, I should not be driving my vehicle down in there. So, I told him, ‘Buddy, you can’t stop me from driving my vehicle in the gully. This is the train area and people have free access to here’.”

When contacted, a spokesman for Hains said: “The plastic caution tape is simply a precaution to protect the local community and tourists from potentially hurting themselves on the partially-built garden wall, which is subject to the court injunction. The owners of the site are simply cautious of such dangers, given the landscape. Full access to the ‘Cup and Saucer’ remains unimpeded on the eastern Atlantic side, as has been the case over recent years.

“This issue of the garden wall is subject to an ongoing legal case currently in the courts. The owners of the lower Tenby Garden remain committed to settling this issue to ensure the public maintain such access.”

Concerning the confrontation with Lewis, which was videotaped, the spokesman explained: “Lewis was watched maliciously trying to rip the tape apart in an act of vandalism. He did not realise that he was being watched from above.”

Regarding vehicles’ access to the area, he reported the owner as saying: “I do not want to be involved in a
tit-for-tat exchange, but I will address this tape message for the sake of completeness.

“Our understanding is that the railway trace is for pedestrian access only and that cars on it are a danger to children, tourists and the local community. Parking cars on the railway, as Lewis did Sunday, blocks access for all those wanting to use the railway trace for leisure activities and access.”

The spokesman further reminded that Hains made a “generous proposal” last year, which he said was accepted by Lewis’ attorney Gregory Nicholls but rejected by Lewis.

That proposal, among other things, gave the public permanent access over the owner’s private property to both the “Teacup and Saucer” and Joe’s River on the Atlantic side of the railway trace and Joe’s River Bridge, which excludes the side by the caution tape.

The spokesman stated: “The upcoming court hearing will address all of these matters but the owner remains dedicated to accommodate and work with the people of Bathsheba.”

When contacted, Nicholls said he would be writing Hain’s attorneys about the erection of the tape.

“We got an injunction to stop him from building a wall in 2023. So he basically put caution tape in the area where he was building the foundation for the wall so people can’t walk over the blocks at the bottom. We stopped him at the foundation level, so he never really got past the foundation level to build the wall,” he said.

“I’m going to write the lawyers and ask them to decide to remove that caution tape. I understand that he might be clear that it is a hazard, but what he should do in the meantime is rather than putting caution tape to stop people from accessing Joe’s River, he should restore the area to its original state until the litigation is finished.

“So that’s why I’m going to write his lawyers tomorrow and ask them to do it. If not, we will go back to court and ask the court to stop him from impeding access to the area.”