By Jolly Green

Dear
Sir, I would like to bring the following to your readers.

Synonyms
for smirch: besmear, besmirch, bespatter, blacken, blemish, blot,
blotch, contaminate, country degrade, dirty, discredit, disgrace,
dishonour, pollute, smear, smudge, soil, stain, sully, taint,
tarnish.

Bragging
comrade?

Ralph
Everard Gonsalves, Prime Minister of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
in an article of March 2019 said “The Petitions Trials petitions
‘besmirched the good name’ of SVG.”

https://www.iwnsvg.com/2019/03/25/petitions-trial-petitions-besmirched-the-good-name-of-svg-gonsalves/

But
it may well be that he, Gonsalves, went a long way to doing that
himself.

Several
articles and attached comments over the years have asked why he has
never stood trial for the many years of complaints from women of
sexual assault, even a charge of rape.

2008,
February 8: Spontaneous protest rally in SVG against the alleged rape
of a Police Officer by Prime Minster Ralph Gonsalves

2008,
May 25: Rape cases roil Caribbean island nation.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-may-25-fg-rape25-story.html

2011,
September 11: PM Gonsalves Rape Charges Rising From the Ashes Due to
Wikileaks.
http://www.butgrace.com/news/ralph-gonsalves/wikileaks-on-rape-charges/

2011,
September 12: Policewoman offered US$185,000 to drop rape charge
against St Vincent PM, says leaked US cable.

2015,
September 3: I was raped by Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves

https://michelleandrewsstory.blogspot.com/2015/09/i-was-raped-by-prime-minister-ralph.html

2015,
September 27: Michelle Andrews Story: Ralph E. Gonsalves' Victim

https://michelleandrewsstory.blogspot.com/

2016,
August 19: Serial Rapist PM Ralph Gonsalves Denies He Is The ‘Bill
Cosby’ Of The Caribbean.
http://vifreepress.com/2016/08/serial-rapist-pm-ralph-gonsalves-denies-bill-cosby-caribbean/

2016,
September 24: Woman Accuses PM Gonsalves Of Sexual Assault At Town
Hall Meeting.
https://news784.com/local-news/woman-accuses-pm-gonsalves-of-sexual-assault-at-town-hall-meeting/

2016,
October 10: Ralph E Gonsalves once again accused of sexual assault

2018,
February 4: Women urged to take stand against ‘rape culture’ in
SVG

https://www.iwnsvg.com/2018/02/04/women-urged-to-take-stand-against-rape-culture-in-svg/

2019,
October 10: NDP wants tougher rape laws, offenders’ registry

https://www.iwnsvg.com/2019/10/10/ndp-wants-tougher-rape-laws-offenders-registry/

Dear
readers, please be kind enough to read all the above stories and also
the comments attached to them.

Perhaps
some of the stories are mean and over the top. But the reported sex
matters, whether real or false regarding Gonsalves, have brought
frustration to individual sections of Vincentian society. People want
to see these matters sorted out once and for all. Perhaps it will
take a change of government for any of the allegations to be finally
dealt with. We certainly cannot rely on the Police or Judiciary to
currently deal with this matter publicly and transparently as they
should, and should have done a long time ago.

I
doubt that such allegations and charges could [or would] be tolerated
anywhere in the civilised world without at least a preliminary
appearance in court. Ralph Gonsalves has never been to court despite
all the accusations, allegations, or charges. There are perhaps
thousands of story repeats about Gonsalves spread worldwide through
the internet, radio, and newspapers. He is a man that is highly
litigious and commonly sues people reasonably quickly. Yet in all the
hundreds, perhaps multi-thousands of sex stories written and spread
about him in the Caribbean, region, and worldwide, he has never sued
any publication for publishing those stories.

Now
don't think for a minute I am saying he raped, molested, or sexually
interfered with any girl or woman [or man or child for that matter],
I am not a Judge and have never sat on a Jury. What I am saying is
that he has fought tooth and nail never to appear in a court to
answer such issues. He has never given the accusers the comfort [or
discomfort] of their day in court. He has never given himself the
chance to prove innocence before a judge and jury, and to clear his
name against these very nasty allegations. When I ask is he the
smirch, it is with relation to his failure to stand proper trial, and
demand to stand what some may think, an appropriate examination, and
to prove his innocence. But having said that I suppose with the
presumption of innocence it is not for him to prove his innocence, it
is for his accusers to prove his guilt. But they haven't had the
chance; in fact, they have not been allowed.

The
presumption of innocence is the legal principle that one is
considered innocent until proven guilty. Presumption of innocence is
a constitutional right of the accused in a criminal trial, and it is
an international human right under the UN's Universal Declaration of
Human Rights, Article 11.

This
is the latest; will it never go away, even when history is finally
written will he still be featured for the unproven sex allegations?

2019,
December 23: I do not shy away from the rape conversation – PM
Gonsalves

By
Jolly Green,

I
am actually worried about the Comrades good name being self
besmirched.

“You
save yourself or you remain unsaved.”

― Alice
Sebold

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