Trespassing issues continue to plague the owners of a home on Drinkwater Road in North Cowichan.
The home, located next to Cowichan Commons shopping centre, has been in the Cuthbert family since 1971 when the parents of Jim Cuthbert and his sister Donna Cuthbert, a retired doctor, first purchased it.
Donna lives in the residence alone now and Jim resides elsewhere, but he’s deeply concerned about the safety of his sister after trespassers have gotten into the large wooden garage in the backyard on consecutive nights recently to build fires and do drugs before sleeping there through the night.
Jim said Donna has health issues and her mobility is restricted, so she fears going into her yard in case she comes across unexpected people there.
“Donna’s very fragile and this has been quite hard on her,” Jim said. “She used to be an active gardener, but she has since given that up because she’s too stressed to go into the yard. We’re also afraid that the fires in the garage will burn the structure down and it’s fairly close to the house, so we’re concerned for that too. We’re at our wits' end with this.”
The Cuthberts have been dealing with issues of people cutting through the house’s yard for years as a shortcut to get to Cowichan Commons, and in 2023, two sheds were set ablaze in the backyard that completely destroyed them, as well as their contents.
Jim said the problems began in 2022 after BC Housing’s 52-unit supportive housing facility opened on Paddle Road, located less than a block away from the house.
“We’ve never had any of these problems before the supportive housing facility opened,” he said. “When we first had issues with people in the yard, we would talk to them and ask them to leave, but we found many of them to be aggressive. We want this trespassing and vandalism to stop.”
While the Citizen was visiting the home to talk to Jim Cuthbert, two people were asleep on a door supported by tires in the garage while the remains of a file smouldered nearby.
Jim called the RCMP and they arrived within minutes (the North Cowichan/Duncan RCMP detachment is also located in close proximity on Ford Road off Drinkwater Road), but the two people had left the garage before the police arrived.
Megan Kriger, director of development for the Lookout Housing and Health Society which runs the supportive housing facility on Paddle Road, said the local site manager connected with Jim after being informed of his concerns and has provided his direct contact information for any future needs.
“We've also confirmed that the individual causing concern is not a resident and is known to police,” she said. “We have advised the resident to contact the police or bylaw services directly for any immediate, threatening, or illegal behaviour to ensure a real-time response.”
