Lawyer’s alleged ‘secret lover’ found not guilty

A young lady who claims that she had a secret affair with a lawyer since 2002, is asserting that a charge of burglary against her by the lawyer was bogus and that he wanted to get back at her because they are no longer involved in a relationship.{{more}}

Esther Rawlins, 22, of Kingstown was found not guilty of burglary at the Serious Offences Court on Monday after being charged with entering the home of lawyer, Sylvester Raymond Cadette of Cane Garden on April 10 and stealing a quantity of items including clothing and food items amounting to over EC$900.

When Rawlins appeared before the court, it was reported that Cadette had secured his home on the morning of the incident and gone away. The court heard that Cadette’s son came home about 12.45 p.m and met the defendant in his room lying on his bed. The younger Cadette asked what she was doing there and she told him that his dad said she could stay there.

According to reports, she then left the room and proceeded upstairs carrying a suitcase. It was said that the young man held on to her whereupon a struggle ensued. They ended up in the public road, where young Cadette called out to some workmen on a building who aided in tying up the defendant with a rope.

The Police were called to the scene and the defendant was arrested. Officers cautioned Rawlins and she said, “Mr. Cadette and I are in a relationship and he left me there the night before. I don’t know anything about a suitcase.”

It was said that the door of the son’s room had been tampered with, but there were no signs forced entry to the house.

The senior Cadette told the court that he had represented Rawlins on other matters before and that she is a regular visitor to his office. He also stated that on several occasions she telephoned his home at midnight to ask if she could stay there because she had been thrown out of her home, but she never slept or lived there. “You were always calling me at nights to rescue you, you never lived there.” said Cadette.

“How could you say you don’t know me, when we had a secret relationship, you only choose this time to come to court because we are not together anymore,” said Rawlins.

“Do you want me to describe your body parts?” Rawlins asked, at which Senior Magistrate Simone Churaman quickly intervened and told her ask a different question. “I am telling you, I locked you up because you are crazy,” responded Cadette.

Rawlins told the court that she had come back from Barbados in March and as a result of her mother’s death, she had no place of abode and was staying at Cadette’s home. She stated that Cadette told her that his children would be gone for the Easter weekend and that she could come and spend that time at his house. Rawlins also told SEARCHLIGHT that she was taken advantage of because of her situation and warns other young ladies not to fall into the same trap.

In delivering her judgement, Magistrate Churaman said that there was no doubt that the defendant was telling the truth and that it appears that she was set up. Churaman went on to say that Cadette’s evidence was not credible, therefore she found the defendant not guilty.(KW)