LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Is he the SMIRCH?
By Jolly Green
Dear Sir, I would like to bring the following to your readers.
Synonyms for smirch: besmear, besmirch, bespatter, blacken, blemish, blot, blotch, contaminate, country degrade, dirty, discredit, disgrace, dishonour, pollute, smear, smudge, soil, stain, sully, taint, tarnish.
Bragging comrade?
Ralph Everard Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in an article of March 2019 said “The Petitions Trials petitions ‘besmirched the good name’ of SVG.”
But it may well be that he, Gonsalves, went a long way to doing that himself.
Several articles and attached comments over the years have asked why he has never stood trial for the many years of complaints from women of sexual assault, even a charge of rape.
2008, February 8: Spontaneous protest rally in SVG against the alleged rape of a Police Officer by Prime Minster Ralph Gonsalves
2008, May 25: Rape cases roil Caribbean island nation.
https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-may-25-fg-rape25-story.html
2011, September 11: PM Gonsalves Rape Charges Rising From the Ashes Due to Wikileaks. http://www.butgrace.com/news/ralph-gonsalves/wikileaks-on-rape-charges/
2011, September 12: Policewoman offered US$185,000 to drop rape charge against St Vincent PM, says leaked US cable.
2015, September 3: I was raped by Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves
https://michelleandrewsstory.blogspot.com/2015/09/i-was-raped-by-prime-minister-ralph.html
2015, September 27: Michelle Andrews Story: Ralph E. Gonsalves’ Victim
https://michelleandrewsstory.blogspot.com/
2016, August 19: Serial Rapist PM Ralph Gonsalves Denies He Is The ‘Bill Cosby’ Of The Caribbean. http://vifreepress.com/2016/08/serial-rapist-pm-ralph-gonsalves-denies-bill-cosby-caribbean/
2016, September 24: Woman Accuses PM Gonsalves Of Sexual Assault At Town Hall Meeting. https://news784.com/local-news/woman-accuses-pm-gonsalves-of-sexual-assault-at-town-hall-meeting/
2016, October 10: Ralph E Gonsalves once again accused of sexual assault
2018, February 4: Women urged to take stand against ‘rape culture’ in SVG
https://www.iwnsvg.com/2018/02/04/women-urged-to-take-stand-against-rape-culture-in-svg/
2019, October 10: NDP wants tougher rape laws, offenders’ registry
https://www.iwnsvg.com/2019/10/10/ndp-wants-tougher-rape-laws-offenders-registry/
Dear readers, please be kind enough to read all the above stories and also the comments attached to them.
Perhaps some of the stories are mean and over the top. But the reported sex matters, whether real or false regarding Gonsalves, have brought frustration to individual sections of Vincentian society. People want to see these matters sorted out once and for all. Perhaps it will take a change of government for any of the allegations to be finally dealt with. We certainly cannot rely on the Police or Judiciary to currently deal with this matter publicly and transparently as they should, and should have done a long time ago.
I doubt that such allegations and charges could [or would] be tolerated anywhere in the civilised world without at least a preliminary appearance in court. Ralph Gonsalves has never been to court despite all the accusations, allegations, or charges. There are perhaps thousands of story repeats about Gonsalves spread worldwide through the internet, radio, and newspapers. He is a man that is highly litigious and commonly sues people reasonably quickly. Yet in all the hundreds, perhaps multi-thousands of sex stories written and spread about him in the Caribbean, region, and worldwide, he has never sued any publication for publishing those stories.
Now don’t think for a minute I am saying he raped, molested, or sexually interfered with any girl or woman [or man or child for that matter], I am not a Judge and have never sat on a Jury. What I am saying is that he has fought tooth and nail never to appear in a court to answer such issues. He has never given the accusers the comfort [or discomfort] of their day in court. He has never given himself the chance to prove innocence before a judge and jury, and to clear his name against these very nasty allegations. When I ask is he the smirch, it is with relation to his failure to stand proper trial, and demand to stand what some may think, an appropriate examination, and to prove his innocence. But having said that I suppose with the presumption of innocence it is not for him to prove his innocence, it is for his accusers to prove his guilt. But they haven’t had the chance; in fact, they have not been allowed.
The presumption of innocence is the legal principle that one is considered innocent until proven guilty. Presumption of innocence is a constitutional right of the accused in a criminal trial, and it is an international human right under the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 11.
This is the latest; will it never go away, even when history is finally written will he still be featured for the unproven sex allegations?
2019, December 23: I do not shy away from the rape conversation – PM Gonsalves
By Jolly Green,
I am actually worried about the Comrades good name being self besmirched.
“You save yourself or you remain unsaved.”
― Alice Sebold
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