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By Nicole Telford- The alleged rape and buggery of the 16-year-old schoolgirl has taken another turn with the release of a video of the child addressing the issue and apologising to her alleged rapist Nigel Dharamlall, former Minister of Local Government and Regional Development. The 16-year-old child’s video address was released by ‘Day Break News’ Mr. Mikhail Rodrigues, known as “Guyanese Critic.”
During a parliamentary break of Guyana’s’ National Assembly on Thursday, attorney-at-law and Shadow Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ms. Amanza Walton Desir, broke down the contents of the video address by the 16-year-old to “In The eRing/Credible Sources,” a popular Guyanese online talk show.
The shadow minister said she had been watching the situation and following closely. “I was following some social media commentators more or less contradicting what was released in that video, and I am deeply concerned for the welfare and the emotional and mental state of that child, and I want to emphasize that she is a child, she is still a minor not over 18.” (AWD) noted that “even though she presents in that manner we have to understand that this is still a child and that must underpin all of our considerations.”
Walton-Desir said that a couple of things stood out from the video the 16-year-old released “one there was no emphasis whatsoever on the legal issues surrounding this matter, there was no emphasis on interviews conducted while this child was at CPA ‘Child Protection Agency’ no reference of the complaint that took Mr. Dharamlall down to the Police station no reference to the reason for him retaining an attorney.” The MP explained that you have to see this for what it is, “a last-ditch effort by the PPP/C or elements within the PPP/C to sort of clear the way for Nigel Dharamlall’s reintroduction into public office and it has failed and failed miserably.”
Walton-Desir said when you dissect what she called, a carefully curated statement, “it had serious political undertones, it referenced the opposition, it referenced the Amerindian Peoples Association, it referenced activist etc., so you can see it was with a political objective in mind.” The shadow minister expressed that the young lady in that video never mentioned “that there was no rape what she said is that the sex did not happen and the reason for that is whoever curated that statement or prepared that statement understood that if she would ever go on record saying that there was no rape she could be liable to be charged for filing a false police report and liable for all kinds of lawsuits by the Minister in question but that has not happened.”
The lawyer said that looking at the facts “when she said she thought it ended with his resignation, why would he need to resign if clearly he were not culpable of some misdemeanor or the other and now, we are seeing some screenshot and voice notes of what the young lady had in which indicated that he did this to her.”
Going further Walton-Desir questioned where was the child’s parents in during all of this videotaping? The video, she said, had to be okayed by someone higher up in the PPP. Given the fact that she is a minor under the law. The shadow minister said that we have to see that the PPP/C government is ok with victimising the victim.
The Facebook post and WhatsApp messages were sent to social activist Melissa Atwell, also known as “Melly Facking Mel,” who released it causing public outcry and attracted public pressure by organisations, members of the public, and many citizens from Amerindian villages countrywide who protested for a speedy resolution on the matter.
The activist has since filed a complaint to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) under the legal Facility of Transnational repression after the Guyana Police Force issued a Wanted Bulletin for her, alleging cyber-crimes. July 20, 2023, Atwell released a voice note of the voice of the 16 -year-old admitting that all the text messages released, and the allegation of rape and buggery were true.
The now former Minister had sent his letter of resignation to President Irfaan Ali who was at the time on a state visit attending Caricom 50th year anniversary Celebration and 45th sitting of CARICOM Heads of State in the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The press release informed citizens of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana that the Dharamlall had resigned and was suffering as a result of the rape and buggery allegations by the 16-year-old schoolgirl.
