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Sinah Kloß- a German national who was a one-time girlfriend of Kaieteur News Editor, Ruel Johnson said she believes the account of alleged abuse by the writer and also chronicled small part of her own experience with him.
“I was his girlfriend for two years. I believe every word Akola has written. Although I was far from being a minor, he managed to manipulate me and slowly decreased my self-esteem, as is common in histories of domestic violence and is a common strategy of people who have a narcissistic personality disorder,” the woman wrote on Facebook.
“I was suffering from a burn-out due to a stressful finishing phase of my PhD dissertation, a phase in which I was completely let down by him, the details of which shall not be discussed here on Facebook. Also, my father was dying of cancer, adding to my stress and depression. He used this moment of vulnerability to exert power, control me, abuse me verbally, and make himself feel in charge, spit at me. I was called a “miserable cunt” so many times that in the end it didn’t even hurt any more. I have no political agenda and no reason to denounce an ex-boyfriend somewhere far away. As a feminist scholar and activist, I see it as my responsibility to support the fellow victimized women who are speaking up now, and who are once more victimized by strangers who call them liars,” she said.
Johnson a co-founder of the fledgling The Citizens Initiative was dumped by the political party today over the allegations. He wrote on his Facebook page in response to the damning allegations by Akola Thompson: “In responding to queries on his Facebook page Johnson said: “This is very deliberately short on specifics and a great deal of glossing over of fact. Yes, I met her at a poetry reading when she was 17 and at the time living with someone and with a child. And, yes, she was very talented with her poetry. What was initially a brief and stupid fling was ended by me on the basis of her age – there was no grooming, and certainly no prior relationship. There was no steady stream of alcohol because at the time I could not afford any but that was a very deliberate fiction. Over the years, we would occasionally reengage until we entered a full and open relationship as she highlighted. It was toxic and a lot of fighting from a shitload of gaslighting on her part and yes, a great deal of anger and suspicion on mine. What you presented above is a very clever mixture of truth and deliberate lies.”
Thompson a columnist at the Stabroek News referred to Johnson as a predator who selects and targets his victims based on a specific set of criteria: backgrounds of abuse, mental health problems, experiences of neglect etc. “This isn’t done by chance. This is calculated. Vulnerable girls are more susceptible to fall for the interest of older men. Predators like to make young girls feel that they don’t normally like girls their age. There’s just something different about you, you’re so mature are things they are fond of saying. This was something Ruel would tell me frequently,” Thompson wrote.
She said Johnson had used the pretense of the writing mentor to gain access to her and would coerce her through a steady stream of alcohol and manipulation. “Guidance would be given on my work yes but he would always find some way to make sexual comments and innuendos. There was always some sexual joke to be made, some secret, some lingering look and touch. Ruel would refer to me as his “Lolita.” He recommended I read the book. I did. I couldn’t quite gather at the time or even now, what I was supposed to find endearing about the name. I would wonder years later, did he consider himself Humbert Humbert and was this reference a stark awareness of his predation? Did he, like Humbert Humbert have several young coquettes before his Lolita? I would be inclined to believe so. Because despite years of stating that he did not like young girls, upon our end there he was again with another young girl barely pass the age of consent. Predators know who to prey on. They know how often their adult interest in vulnerable children would be received.”
