The Guyana Police Force claimed it has finished investigating rape charges against Minister of Local administration and Regional Authority Nigel Dharamlall amid public pressure on the administration. The Police stated on Thursday morning that the file is with the DPP.
A 16-year-old girl accused the minister of grooming and sexually assaulting her at his Georgetown house in 2022. A letter to President Mohamed Irfaan Ali, government officials, and civil society organisations detailed the charges. After the claims surfaced, the state took custody of the girl while police investigated.
Despite visiting the shooting scene and signing police statements, the child and her family were barred from hiring private lawyers. The government was urged to conduct a “fair and impartial” probe.
At the Caribbean Court of Justice’s itinerant sitting in Georgetown on Thursday, more than 30 people called for fast justice outside the Arthur Chung Convention Centre’s Liliendaal site. Jean La Rose, president of the Amerindian Peoples Association, demanded that the accused victim have “all means for legal redress” and that the investigation be impartial.
“We have been interested in following up these stories,” La Rose said, “but unfortunately alleged victims again, here, have been reluctant to bring any story forward, as it is being told, it is being recanted at the same time,” she said.
“Too often our culture, when it comes to sexual abuse, there is so much silence around it,” said activist Salima Hinds, “we have a culture where we are quicker to protect the accused and not enough support for women and girls and boys who are victims”.
Hinds added that the allegations and story show the need for better child protection systems: “there need to be systems where not everyone who has power should have access to children,” she said, “there need to be questions about what people are doing, you need to put better systems in place where children are not harmed”.
“The child has a right to her own legal representation and if she choose not to have the DPP as her representative, we hope they would allow her to have that right to choose her own,” Red Thread’s Joy Marcus told reporters. Marcus noted that many sexual offenses are thrown out due to a lack of proof and that the state’s involvement in a government minister’s case is concerning. We hear that this is not the first time this individual has received similar complaints. “Our question is why something has not been done before now,” Marcus stated.
A big throng picketed the President’s Office on Vlissingen Road, demanding the Minister’s resignation. The President held the weekly cabinet meeting with ministers. Some Guyanese from Region 7 protested. “I have children, grandchild and great grand and leaders in this modern age, we are supposed to set examples,” Brian Wilson told Loop Caribbean. “We must be strong and try to protect our children in every way,” he added.
“As a parent, as an indigenous woman, I think it is important for us to demand justice for this little girl,” said a tearful Skeitha Sabanthoni Thomas. “I am a mother and from the first message I read from this child, it hurt me, every day I come out and stand here to support her, there is just an anger in me I just cannot express,” she added.
“The more we speak from the executive it is distorted by an industry out there,” Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo told reporters Thursday afternoon. If the allegations “prove true,” Minister Dharamlall “must face the consequences,” the Vice President stated.
The Vice President chastised the opposition for politicizing the issue, saying it “cannot be tried by social media”. The Vice President added that Minister Anand Persaud has taken over the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development. Administrative leave for Minister Dharamlall.
