Almost three weeks after she had issued a No Further Action (NFA) statement on a rape allegation against former Minister of Local Government Nigel Dharamlall the child in question has made video in which said “…I categorically state that there was no sex and the gory details of the alleged event did not occur.”
In keeping with child protection laws and principles Stabroek News will not be naming the girl.
The girl, who is believed to be sixteen and has just completed her CSEC examinations, also stated that the entire situation has caused her and her family emotional harm and tremendous embarrassment.
Saying that it is her “resolution” with her name and face attached and she that would not “reiterate further and speak of this again in the future” the girl said that she hoped that the statement brings clarity to those who are dissatisfied and “question my integrity”.
She held up a piece of paper which she indicated was a detailed account of what she was addressing. Referring to the letter she allegedly wrote to President Irfaan Ali detailing the alleged rape, the girl said that at no point anyone would agree to release such “explicit” details about themselves into the public domain.
“I know how Guyanese are and I did not come on here to be disrespectful but these are things that don’t sit right with me and I had to say something about it,” she said while denying that the alleged letter was written by her.
She said she stands firmly by the statement given to Region Two Commander, Superintendent Khemraj Shivbaran immediately after the alleged letter of rape started to circulate on the internet. In that statement the girl said she clearly stated that she had nothing to do with the letter being circulated. She said another statement was written and posted on her Facebook page, which has now been deactivated, where she distanced herself from the original alleged letter of rape.
She said a third statement was then sent to several media houses and media personalities which was not published but they were quick publish the first letter which she said was written via a fake account. The non-publication of the third letter proves, according to the girl, that the media is more focused on “untruths” that “scandalize” people.
“Since this most recent statement with my name has not been met with public acceptance I am saying this for the final time with my face now shown for all interested people to see that I categorically state that there was no sex and the gory details of the alleged event did not occur,” she said. She added that that the allegations have caused her and her family great emotional harm and tremendous embarrassment.
“Unfortunately for the curious I will not justify my words because I can say one thing it was justified to those who needed a justification and in my opinion that was enough. All I would say is that this entire situation was forced upon me by people who I have never met or people that know me personal enough to act in my best interest,” she said.
She said she never desired to include her family in any discussion related to the topic adding that it is a matter of “exploitation by devious people”.
“It was an obvious plot to set up to destroy the character of the minister. I expected it to be calm after he resigned. Unfortunately that was not the case,” she said.
And while several organisations and persons made statements supporting her and condemning the alleged act, the girl only criticised the Amerindian People’s Association (APA) whom she said stated that she wished to be emancipated from her parents.
“I am very disappointed in this organisation for making such claims. This is totally ridiculous…and I expected better. As I said before APA or anyone else have no authority to speak on my behalf and for their knowledge my parents are the closest people to me,” she said.
She also urged the opposition to stop speaking about indigenous people “because every day this sector of the population are affected and these people are quiet ninety-eight percent of the time.”
“I feel bullied by those people on Facebook. As I mentioned in my statement before I have no issue with the Minister,” she added.
And she said since she has been in the safety of her parents’ home she did some research on the Shanaz Hussain Facebook account and found that it may be a fake one operating to damage the image of Minister Dharamlall.
“I would like to apologise to Mister Dharamlall thank you,” she ended.
The Shanaz Hussain account the girl referred to belongs to the New York-based young woman who in an interview with this newspaper in April of last year and had accused Dharamlall of harassing her for sexual relations at a time when she was vulnerable and in a depressed state. She had shared the information about her depressed state with the Minister whom she met on Facebook.
Did not address
While the girl addressed the letter about the alleged rape she made no mention of her two weeks of being in the care of the Child Care & Protection Agency and the subsequent investigation conducted by the police.
During the period of June 18th to June 30th (the day she gave a No Further Action statement) the girl underwent forensic interviews with non-government organisation Blossom Inc in the presence of child care officers and the police.
Dharamlall was arrested for hours during that period as well and was later placed on $1M dollars bail. During the course of the police investigation the child was taken to Dharamlall’s house and he had to be asked to leave the premises as he was said to be in front of the house.
Critics had pointed out that the police erred in returning the child to the house as she could have been re-traumatised.
Relatives of hers, who reportedly could have corroborated her visiting the former minister’s house, were also forensically interviewed by NGO ChildLink.
A file on the case was then sent to the office of the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) where it remained for days and prompted some protest that saw the Director Shalimar Ali-Hack issuing a statement saying that the office had thousands of files to deal with.
She later returned the file to the police for further investigation and it was while conducting that investigation, which saw the young woman being interviewed again, that she asked that no further action be taken.
Within hours of the file being resent to the DPP’s office with this statement the police were advised that no charge could be brought.
Hours after this, President Irfaan Ali, who was in Trinidad at the time, announced that he had accepted Dharamlall’s resignation as a minister and a Member of Parliament but that the former minister indicated that he still supports the PPP/C party.
This was on July 4th and it is believed that the young woman was returned to her parents two days before after it was established that she would be counselled in the region she lives.
The case in question surfaced sometime around June 15th after several screenshots appeared online of an alleged statement by the girl detailing her claim of rape by the minister earlier in the year.
A few days after the surfacing of the screenshots, the public was informed by the police that an investigation into the matter had been launched and Dharamlall was arrested and later released on bail.
The allegations threatened to tarnish the government and analysts had said that with or without a charge Dharamlall would have had to quit both Cabinet and Parliament. The collapse of the case against Dharamlall had also raised questions about whether pressure had been brought on the complainant at various points of the probe to have her recant after having held firmly to her position for weeks. Analysts had said that the PPP/C government would not have wanted to have the stain of a rape charge against one of its ministers.
