Father accuses police of corruption after walking free of incest charge

A father who was charged with incest and remanded to prison for several months is accusing the police and a neighbour of setting him up. The man recently spoke with OBSERVER media days after his 13-year-old offspring told High Court Justice Iain Morley that she had lied about her dad having sex with her, resulting in the prosecution dropping the charge against the accused. The man, who wanted his identity revealed, said he is deeply saddened by the “false” report against him, adding that it ruined another case in which a man allegedly had unlawful sexual intercourse with the same daughter who is below the age of sexual consent.
Although it was his desire to be named, OBSERVER media could not do so, because the Sexual Offences Act prohibits publication of the name of an individual accused of a sex crime unless he or she is convicted. And moreover, the law prohibits publication of any information that could lead to the identity of a sex crime complainant being disclosed.
The father said he wants the public to know he is not the monster he was made out to be when he was charged, and he said the entire ordeal and the six months he spent behind bars cost him his business and family – all because the police “did not do their jobs.” First, he alleged that the child was coerced by a neighbour to make the complaint behind his back and without her mother’s knowledge after he went to the police to complain about another man engaging her in unlawful sexual intercourse.
He alleged that the neighbour is “friends with the police” and was responsible for orchestrating the complaint against him, which, he said, was done to shatter his daughter’s credibility,ruin a rape and kidnapping case against a police prosecutor, and prevent an investigation into the other sex complaint for which he claimed he had video evidence that mysteriously disappeared from a phone he handed over to the police. “I want the matter with my daughter to be reopened because the crime was committed, I saw the blood myself and it was on the 22nd of July 2016 and on the 23rd he kidnapped her twice, raped her and threatened her and he had a gun and they never mentioned the gun that he had on the bed while he was raping her and they put him back in uniform. How is he still in uniform and my whole family has been destroyed? My daughter is still pissing her bed at the age of 16,” the father said. He called the prosecution system and police “corrupt” and indicated that he made all the aforementioned statements in court before Justice Morley who, earlier this month, presided over the case against him which was nolle prosequi, which meant the Crown would no longer prosecute.
The dad has also questioned why the police and prosecution did not immediately act when they learned since May this year that his daughter had lied. He said his daughter wrote a letter to the authorities since then, informing them that the things she claimed he had done, which she had vividly described, were untrue. The man said he doesn’t hate or blame his daughter, but understands her confusion, and that’s why he wants the case against the cop accused of raping and kidnapping her to be reopened or to see some new set of charges brought. “I am upset, and I expect a full international march to include UNICEF, Gender Affairs and Women Against Rape and every one of the authorities. It’s a march of women and men, boys and girls against rape … it’s not only my daughter,” he said. “It’s a whole cover up by the police force. It is deeper than what is at the forefront now,” he alleged.
Police spokesman, Inspector Frankie Thomas, said he could not comment on the man’s claims. “I am not even au fait or have any evidence or any information as to what he is alleging and will make no further comment on the matter,” he said. Just over two months ago, the same child told High Court Justice Keith Thom, in her mother’s presence, that she did not want to testify in the case against the prosecutor and she added that she had forgiven him. Under the circumstances, in the absence of other corroborating evidence and laws to force a complainant to testify, the case was discontinued.
The outcome created an uproar in the society, with many saying the court and prosecutor ought to have done things differently to ensure the man was prosecuted. Some residents argued that given that the girl was not of the age of consent at the time of the offence, she should not have the authority to say she did not want to testify or the court should have rejected her position in the interest of the public. The ruling Antigua Barbuda Labour Party (ABLP) Cabinet later said it was going to examine what can be done to ensure the same thing does not happen again. A threemember committee reviewing the laws includeAttorney General Steadroy “Cutie” Benjamin, Minister of Social Transformation Samantha Marshall, and Minister of State in the Ministry of LegalAffairs, Maria Bird-Browne.