The young woman who accused a member of parliament of sexually assaulting her over three months ago has since sued him after the police took the report of the crime but did not file any charges.
The 18-year-old woman filed the claim in the High Court in recent weeks, suing the minister for sexual assault and the distress caused, among other things, and she’s asking for unspecified damages.
Neither the claimant nor defendant can be named since it is a sexual offence.
A source close to the matter said that the MP was served with a copy of the lawsuit earlier this month and he responded, denying all the allegations in an affidavit filed in the High Court.
In the initial complaint to the police and in the lawsuit, the young woman alleges that in early April she was working as a server at an event after a funeral of a family friend when the MP approached her and touched and kissed her inappropriately about the body, without her consent.
He allegedly made lewd remarks to the young woman and invited a male family friend to his side and then urged that person to have a relationship with the young woman so they could have “beautiful babies.”
The young woman said she was traumatised and froze at the time of the incident and at least one witness came to her rescue and pulled the MP away.
The police have interviewed a number of witnesses, some of whom have reportedly recanted their original statements about what they saw.
Thus, after having filed the report with the police over three months ago and seeing no results, she and her family decided to elevate the matter to the High Court through a civil case.
A source confirmed that the civil matter is to go to case management in September where a judge will be assigned and timelines will be set for the lawyers to file their submissions.
The MP has contacted the media on several occasions asking that the story be dropped and he has repeatedly denied the allegations. Meanwhile, the Minister of Justice and Public Safety Steadroy “Cutie” Benjamin, who is overseas, and Government’s Chief of Staff Lionel “Max” Hurst say they are unaware of the latest development where the minister has been sued.