Mother of police accuser says they are not for sale

The mother of the policewoman who had accused Dr Ralph Gonsalves of raping her has dismissed suggestions that her family was paid to drop the case.{{more}}

“No one paid us to put in the case in the first place, and neither did any one pay us to discontinue the matter now.”

This, according to a press release dated September 23 and signed by the policewoman’s Mother.

“I take offence with the statement made by former Lawyers Ms Bacchus-Browne and Ms Sylvester, because my daughter and I are not up for sale and cannot be bought for any price,” the release states.

In the release, the policewoman’s Mother claims that they were not offered any money and “no one put any pressure or force my daughter or me to end the case.”

She thanked her daughter’s former Lawyers for their services, which the release says they pledged to render free of charge.

“… My daughter and I, and the entire family, feel enough “I made no overtures to anyone. I deny that,” was Philips’ response when he spoke to SEARCHLIGHT earlier this week. “I want to be noted quite clearly. At no time during my discussions with the mother or with (the policewoman) that the issue of any bribe came up,” Phillips added.

Philips, along with the woman’s mother, witnessed the ‘Warrant to Act’ which was filed in the High Court on September 12 and authorized Martin to act on the policewoman’s behalf in place of Sylvester and Bacchus-Browne.

Phillips said that the woman and her mother came to him in confidence and shared their intentions with him. He told SEARCHLIGHT that he has known the family for a long time and they came to him because they trusted him.

Phillips also noted that although it is within his rights to witness the filing of a court document, he only ended up signing as a witness because the person who was supposed to do it did not show up.

“The girl’s uncle was supposed to sign it but he couldn’t make it, and so they asked me to do it,” Phillips said.

Philips, who is also a Justice of the Peace, said that he intends to discuss with his lawyers the matter of which he has been accused by Sylvester and Bacchus-Browne.

Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police (COP) Keith Miller has dismissed suggestions that the woman was in any way victimized by the police force.

COP Miller told SEARCHLIGHT that the officer, who works ‘the beat’, carries out the same duties that are required of other officers working the beat.

He said that he is confused about the victimization claims because it is not as though she were assigned more dangerous police duties, like with the Rapid Response Unit (Black Squad) or the Coast Guard.

Both Sylvester, who is the immediate past president of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) Bar Association, and Bacchus-Browne, who is President of the St Vincent and the Grenadines Bar Association, however, believe that what has taken place and the way it was done is cause for concern.

They said that the common courtesies that should have been extended to them as former counsel for the woman were ignored, including a phone call prior to the filing of the “Warrant to Act” to discuss whether or not there were outstanding matters with the case.

“The pace, and certainly the manner in which, the hastiness in which common courtesy went out the window, speaks its own volumes,” Sylvester said.