A High Court Judge has quashed a fraudulent deed, which purported to transfer a property from a woman to her sister without her knowledge.
Justice Ricky Rahim quashed the deed and struck it from the land registry yesterday, as he upheld Sharda Mohammed’s lawsuit against her sister Zeena.
According to the evidence in the case, the siblings’ father Ousman purchased the parcel of land at Red Hill, D’Abadie, in March 1988.
Their father built their family home on the land and eventually joined Mohammed, who migrated to the United States in 2002, as a joint tenant in October 2014.
After their father passed away in November 2018, the relationship between the sisters “took a precipitous decline”, with Zeena allegedly sending abusive and threatening messages to Mohammed via social media.
Last year, Zeena reportedly gained access to the property and began undertaking renovations.
After receiving news of what transpired, Mohammed instructed her attorney to have a title search done on the lands.
The attorney found a registered deed of gift which claimed that Mohammed had willingly transferred the land to her sister.
Mohammed reported the information to the Fraud Squad of the T&T Police Service (TTPS) and successfully sought an injunction to evict her sister from the property.
When the case came up for virtual trial before Justice Rahim yesterday morning, Zeena was not present or represented by an attorney and it continued in her absence.
Presenting Mohammed’s case, her attorney Brent Winter led the evidence of the lawyer who was alleged to have prepared the questionable deed.
In his affidavit, the lawyer, who did not attend the hearing, claimed that he did not prepare the deed. He also claimed that at the time the deed was purportedly executed, his office was no longer at the location where it was allegedly signed.
While addressing Winter, Justice Rahim questioned why the attorney did not directly deny that he had signed the document.
“He has not clearly said the signature appearing on the deed is not his,” Rahim said, as he noted that the lawyer admitted that the witness for the deed was a former employee of his.
“A lawyer who is embroiled in a fraudulent transaction would be expected to address this,” he added.
He also noted that the same Justice of the Peace (JP) certified the deed and the lawyer’s affidavit for Mohammed’s lawsuit.
While Justice Rahim stated that the attorney’s statements were “curious”, he said that he was prepared to draw the inference that the deed was fraudulent based on the evidence before him.
In upholding the case, Justice Rahim ordered the High Court Registrar to send the court filings to the Office of the Commissioner of Police for a criminal investigation.
He also granted a perpetual injunction blocking Zeena from accessing the property.
Mohammed was also represented by Alana Alexander-Devonshire.
