[Updated] – 56yro Annamay Lewis, charged with wounding the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, pleaded not guilty in court on Monday.
Lewis was granted bail in the sum of $3000.00 with one surety. The matter has been adjourned to September 15th 2021.
Woman Shouts-My Mom Is Innocent-Police Tells Her She Could Be Arrested
Police armed with guns and batons are present outside the Kingstown Magistrate Courts as 56yro Annamay Lewis, charged with wounding Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, is expected to be arraigned.
On Lewis’s arrival, her daughter dressed in a white top and blue jeans burst into tears and shouted.
“My mother is innocent; my mother is innocent”.
As the woman shouted several times her mother is innocent, she was then cautioned by police that she is in the precincts of the court and such outbursts would not be tolerated.
“I am Superintendent Francis. We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour. Otherwise, you would be arrested for breach of the Public Order Act”.
According to a police press release on Friday 6th, August 2021, about 5:30 p.m., police charged Ms Annamay Lewis, 56 years Vendor of Layou, with the offence of wounding.
According to the investigations, on 5.8.2021, the Accused allegedly unlawfully and maliciously wounded Mr Ralph Gonsalves, 74 years Prime Minister of Old Montrose (Dasent Cottage), by striking him on the right side of his head with an unknown object.
Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves speaking from Barbados on Friday, said he would tell the nation at a later date whom he holds personally responsible for the attempt upon his life.
Gonsalves said he takes the assault upon him, not just as an injury or an act of battery.
“When you throw a stone or some other projectile at someone with the intention to hit them in their head and given the delicate nature of one’s head, you have in mind the intention to kill”.
Lawyer Kay Bacchus Baptiste said Annamay Lewis, whom the police picked up on Thursday evening and accused of inflicting a wound to the Prime Minister’s head, was forced to confess to such.
“No group of instigators, no handful of provocateurs or those who are instigating violence or offering violence against the person of the Prime Minister and the representative for North Central Windward would be able to subvert the work of parliament or the parliamentary process”.
On Saturday, Police searched the homes of ten persons on the Caribbean island of St Vincent.
St Vincent’s Opposition leader Dr Godwin Friday on Saturday night said the searches connected to the protest held on Thursday.
Friday said that activists, business people and opposition spokespersons homes were among those searched on Saturday.
“It’s quite clear that the searches were a signal from the head of Government that they are coming for those in the forefront of the demonstration”, Friday said.
At the press conference on Saturday, opposition talk show host Colin Graham said the home of Douglas De Freitas, owner of Nice Radio, was searched. At this station, the Opposition party hosts a daily program.
Several protesters from the group Rise Hairouna are also demonstrating the arrest and charge against Lewis.
