Hopkins company explains its presence in graveyard…

Last week we reported that a graveyard in Hopkins Village is partially blocked by a resort project that is underway in that community. We heard from the past Chairman of the Hopkins Village Council, Mario Augustine, who said that the villagers do not have access to part of the cemetery without permission from the private company, which now owns the portion of land on which the graveyard sits. This allegation is supported by aerial shots which News Five captured, showing a security booth situated about halfway along the length of the graveyard. When we contacted the Ministry of Natural Resources last week, their Legal Advisor, Douglas Carr, told us that he was not aware of the situation or how the company became in possession of the graveyard in the first place. But Theo Jansen, General Manager of the company, Hopkins Harbour Development Limited, gave News Five his side of the story.

Theo Jansen, General Manager, Hopkins Harbour Dev. Ltd.
“The security booth does not block any entrance. It purely makes a note of people accessing the property, which is property which is partly owned by us and which has got the memorial section which is the old cemetery was in that property. We have a written agreement that is an agreement between the Department of Environment and the Village Council which allows the villagers access into this property and we have never, at that security gate, refused anybody entrance into this property.”

Marion Ali
“But Mr. Jansen, why would anybody need your permission to enter a public graveyard if it’s a public graveyard?”

Theo Jansen
“It is a graveyard that was put aside and it’s not used at this point. It’s not used for carrying burials. It is a graveyard that was used primary by the new town development people prior to 1941 and to a small extent after that. It is now being put aside and allocated as a memorial site of which they have access to when they want to.”

Marion Ali
“So then—no but I mean how do you get to own a graveyard? How do you get to own—you yourself said it’s a memorial site. How do you get to own that?”

Theo Jansen
“We do not own it. The piece of property happens to be in the center of our property. The allocated section of property for that memorial graveyard is within our property. We do not want to build on it, we do not want to use it and we actually protect it and look after it. All we are saying is that to protect the memorial park and to protect the assets we have, there’s a person at the gate that just takes your name when you come in but that does not stop you from entering.”

Marion Ali
“But why is that necessary? Can you explain that sir? I mean no other public graveyard is this required for.”

Theo Jansen
“It’s not a public road; it is an easement that came out of the previous property and the agreement that we have is an agreement with the Village Council and this goes back to 2006. We have written permission for that. And it’s not just written permission, it’s an agreement with the Village Council. Nobody has to check; they just have to sign in at the gate.”

Marion Ali
“And that is the problem that they have.”

Theo Jansen
“Then why did the Village Council agree to allowing that. The property that goes around that area was purchased by—not by us—it was purchased by some previous people from whom we purchased the property. And we then put in our environmental procedures in terms of the development, which was agreed upon by Environment, Geology and ourselves.”

Marion Ali
“That was in 2006.”

Theo Jansen
“That was in 2006 and I believe some of these issues go back to prior to that but there was a huge issue in 2006, yes.”