Durban - A Durban granny has secured an eviction order against her granddaughter who, she says, claims to be under the impression that she was dead and has been living in her house without her permission.
Phyllis McNamara, who lives in an old age home in Winkelspruit, says when she confronted her granddaughter, Candice-Leigh McLean, on the property at Benson Road, Montclair, she had said: “Granny I thought you were dead”.
McNamara said: “I am here. And I want to come into my house”.
McNamara, who is 85, says in her affidavit which came before Durban High Court Judge Johan Ploos van Amstel on Monday, that her granddaughter refused to allow her in and continues to live on the property illegally.
McNamara said she bought the five-bedroom house in 1955 and lived in it until August 2012 when she was attacked.
She said one morning, at about 2am, she saw the “ face of a large male adult coming round the corner of the cupboard and peeping into my bedroom”.
She got up and then saw him lying on the couch.
“He got up and threw me down. He took some of my property and went off. I just lay there. I saw him go out of the front door and jump over the gate.”
She said she was highly traumatised by the incident and had gone to live with her daughter, who said she must not go back to the house because it was too dangerous.
In May last year, she had moved into the old age home “where the treatment is very good”. She wanted to sell the house, which still contained all her furniture but, she said, McLean refused to move out.
She claimed she went to the house last October, accompanied by her son, grandson and a handyman, but McLean had called the police to stop her from going in.
“I told the police that I was the owner but they did not listen,” she said.
McLean then told her she thought she was dead and said she must give proper warning if she wanted to see the house.
“I seek the court’s protection and assistance to get back my home from the opportunists who have taken advantage of me,” McNamara said, claiming she could get good rental from tenants while she was attempting to sell it.
McLean did not oppose the application and did not send a representative to court on Monday. The judge ordered she move out within 48 hours and pay the outstanding electricity and water account.
The Mercury