Mother denies her son was sexually assaulted by Region 1 Chairman

The mother of a 23-year-old young man who was allegedly said to have been raped by the Chairman of Region One (Barima-Waini) is refuting such claims, saying that the accusations are false and may be centred on a political agenda by her son’s uncle.
Shirley Gibbs, the mother of the young man in question, said that her son had left their home in Mabaruma on February 12, 2019 and returned on the same afternoon, intoxicated.
She said that shortly after he attempted to take his life twice and that is why she contacted Regional Chairman Brentnol Ashley to help her transport him to Georgetown for medical and mental health treatment.

Regional Chairman Brentnol Ashley

“He (the Regional Chairman) said he will see a possible way to assist me. On Thursday afternoon at 2 pm (14:00h), he came by me and said he spoke with some Indigenous people in Georgetown and that the only way he can assist is for me to get a referral from the Mabaruma Regional Hospital which I did. On the Friday morning, Mr Brentnol Ashley, said he was willing to assist me in bringing him, my son, accompanying him out of Georgetown. He brought my son at the Amerindian Hostel where he stayed all the time.”
Gibbs stated that on the Monday following her son’s arrival at the Amerindian Hostel, he was taken to a clinic by a nurse and he subsequently returned to the Amerindian Hostel. However, she explained that was when the false allegation about the Regional Chairman began to surface.
“From that Monday onwards, Allen Adams, who is the uncle, start broadcasting, start talking a lot of ill things about how the Regional Chairman bring my son to Georgetown … and how he interfere with him and how he left him in a hotel room and abandon him for three days. On February 20th, he (Allen) sent out a cell phone and $3000 at the Amerindian Hostel.”

Mother of the alleged victim, Shirley Gibbs

The distraught mother further explained that the young man’s uncle sent money for him at the Hostel again and then subsequently sent his son to retrieve her son from the Hostel and take him to an aunt’s residence in Soesdyke, East Bank Demerara. This was something she knew nothing of, and never permitted.
“And my son was there for three days. He doesn’t notify the supervisor at the Amerindian Hostel, because when I came out the Saturday, the March 2, I was told by the caretaker there that my son was out without her permission,” she explained.
According to Gibbs, on Monday, the Child Care and Protection Agency (CC&PA) and its probation department took her and her son to a location on the East Bank of Demerara, where they spent most of the day answering questions as part of the ongoing investigations into the matter. She said after this, they had to visit the Brickdam Police Station.
“They ain’t do no mental test … all they do is because what is written in the papers… a physical test … that is the only test they did at Brickdam and the doctor there at Brickdam said ‘what you bring this boy here for? This is politics’. And the Police say ‘do it, man, do it’,” Gibbs revealed.
The woman added that all she wanted is for her son to receive the necessary mental treatment so that they could return home to Mabaruma, and for his uncle to stop using her ill child as a political weapon.
The woman divulged that her son was born in Venezuela, but at age 15, he began to have seizures and other physical ailments.
On Saturday last, Social Protection Minister Amna Ally told the media that the Child Care and Protection Agency had launched an investigation into the sexual allegation.
Meanwhile, since the surfacing of the allegation, the Regional Chairman has refuted the claims, saying that he believes that the accusation is being instigated by the A Partnership for National Unity/ Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition Government officials in the region who have been continuously targeting him.
The Chairman assured the residents in the region that the allegation was a mere attempt to stain his name and was false and wholly malicious.
He added that he has since contacted his lawyer who is presently examining the best way forward. Ashley explained that the allegation was a “direct result of the desperation of the APNU/AFC clique, who is faced with defeat all around, especially with the successful no-confidence motion which necessitates the Government having to face new elections at which they will be defeated again”.