A 56-year-old handyman has lost his legal battle to keep living at a house in Petit Bourg that belongs to an 83-year-old woman who has been declared mentally unfit to manage her affairs.

In a ruling on June 17, Justice Ricky Rahim dismissed the man’s application for a declaration that a cohabitation relationship existed and for a property adjustment order.

He also ordered the man to surrender and deliver possession of the property to the woman’s children, who were appointed as the Committee of the Patient by another judge under the Mental Health Act in February 2023 after she was diagnosed with dementia. He will be allowed to remove his possessions from the home, and he also has to pay the committee’s legal costs.