By Max Sterling

Can you imagine a cat being put to watch freshly caught jacks? I can! That cat will get away in the jacks to the point where they may not be any jacks left. It is said that the best person to be put to watch money is a t'ief.

I beg to differ on that one since years of experience (which all of us have been exposed to) has taught us otherwise. There is none so blind as he who would not see. I want the newly created sex offense unit of our Police Force to take up the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct committed by male folks who end up in leading positions in both the private and public sectors in Grenada.

The following are examples as to where to begin:

* A certain practitioner in the House who held down in his chair many unsuspecting female patients when their dentures were seen to.

* A certain Minister in the House who left his teaching job precipitously.

* A certain Ambassador and his forced entry onto/into a young lady of good standing and background who ended up paying money to settle out of court.

* A certain prominent member of the House who raped a woman in the back seat of a car on the way to a cricket match in the US.

* That same prominent member of the House who raped another woman who was working late to help the Minister of Finance prepare his budget presentation in 1995.

* A certain one time legal operative in the House for the attempted rape of his secretary who left his office screaming and running through the streets of St. George's disheveled with her blouse busted while seeking refuge in a nearby legal assistance office.

I am sure that Commissioner James would welcome these tips so as to give meaning and purpose to this new unit of the Royal Grenada Police Force.

Commissioner James, please be advised that a letter dated September 02, 2003 was received by a local media tycoon in Grenada, who was very selective in the people whom he afforded the privilege of having access to same.

For your benefit and the benefit of the smooth working of this new unit of the RGPF I openly submit this letter as follows:

"Dear (name withheld),

You don't know me, but I am a (nationality withheld) living in New York for several years. I, however, visit (country withheld) often, and for this reason I do not wish to divulge my name or anything about myself.

What I am about to tell you may endanger my very life, and could also cause my family inside (country withheld) to be victimized. I am going to give a friend inside (country withheld) to either post this to you, or give you in your hand.

"What I am about to tell you is so scandalous, so evil, so wicked, that I will give you information on how you can check for yourself to see whether I make this up, or whether what I am telling you is true. When you do your own check, make up your own mind then.

"In the latter part of 1995, just a short while after (Political Party withheld) won the elections that year, a young woman was RAPED, one evening, in the (government office withheld). She was one of the workers working late on (document withheld) with the then (Department head designation withheld). That is why she was there for that evening.

"This young woman was brutally RAPED that night by the person she was assigned to work with. At the end of the RAPE, this young woman was traumatised. She was also scared to death for her life. She was afraid the man who RAPED her would pay someone to kill her so as to silence her. She could not go to the police, she later said, because this man had serious influence over the police, the DPP, everything, as far as she knew.

"She fled (country withheld) for New York as soon as she could, on a visitor's visa, and applied to the United States government authorities for political asylum.

"......just imagine someone applying for political asylum, when coming from a democratic, free country like (name withheld), where we have free elections, and good relations between (name withheld) and the United States.

"The young lady's application for political asylum was filed in the US Immigration Court soon after she reached New York (in the latter part of the same year of her RAPE) and the matter was heard by an immigration judge, in the Immigration Court early the following year

The record of the trial proceedings are housed on the 15th Floor of 26th Federal Plaza, in the Trial Division in Manhattan, New York. The "trial" before the Federal Immigration judge was in order for the court to satisfy itself that the young woman's claim of being RAPED by a very high official in (country withheld) who she named in court was true, and not a trick to get permanent residence in the US.

"I have given you the year of filing the case, the year the case was tried, the court it was heard in, the building where the trial took place, where the trial record of the case is kept and also what the trial was all about in order to determine the truth or falsehood of the claim by the young woman that she was RAPED by this high official in (country withheld).

She described in detail the particular day she was RAPED, exactly where this crime took place, and exactly how it was done by the perpetrator. She was on oath and subject to cross examination. The onus was on her to prove her charge, with convincing evidence.

".......You are one of two persons in (country withheld) I trust to raise that with since you both show great courage. You have a fearless approach especially when it comes to matters of morality, corruption, etc.

It is quite clear that you are not afraid of the RAPIST and that you are regarded by the RAPIST as bad news that will not go away....

"At this point, (name withheld), I should tell you, Sir, that the young woman's testimony under oath was so vivid, so terrifying and moving, that everyone in the court at that time including the judge broke down in tears. And you know these people don't cry easily!

The court, at the end of the hearing granted her political asylum. This means that the US Federal Immigration Court was satisfied that the alleged RAPIST was indeed a RAPIST, and that he had RAPED this young woman.

"One of the two lawyers representing the young woman, at her insistence, is a partner in a young legal firm in (country withheld) and is very popular in the day to day politics of that country. The judge had to pressure (name withheld) to take the case, after the woman pleaded with the judge to do so. ......

"Thank you (name withheld) and may the Lord bless you and continue to guide you as you continue to champion the fight for good and clean governance in our homeland."

Don't you agree that rape is rape regardless of the victim or the accused? I therefore humbly submit this information to the new Sex Offense Unit of Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) so they can start with this particular issue.

Please have your unit either visit or direct Mr. Allen Mc Guire, Counsel General of the Grenadian Embassy based in New York to the following address to retrieve vital evidence: 15th floor of 26th Federal Plaza, in the Trial Division in Manhattan, New York with a view to prosecuting the offender.

In this way this offender would not be able to use his office or immunity privileges to accuse anyone else of any similar activity. I wish your expanded Police details well.

I can hear the jail door banging even louder if this Sex Offense Unit of our Police Force is really to be taken seriously.

Wha' you say - Senator Louison?

Opinions expressed are those of the authors