Attorney-at-Law Jaya Manickchand, who is the sister of Education Minister Priya Manickchand, has denied being retained by the young man who has filed a police complaint claiming that he was sexually molested when he was younger, by the Speaker of the National Assembly Raphael Trotman.
The Speaker has since denied the allegations and has called for a “thorough and professional investigation”.
The young man who lives between Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago claimed on his Facebook page that his Attorney in the matter is Ms. Jaya Manickchand. Speaking to News Source on Sunday, Manickchand said she would like to state clearly that she has not been retained by the young man and is not his attorney in the matter.
She said she spoke to him by telephone after finding out on Friday that he visited Chambers in search of her while she was out.
According to Manickchand, she told the young man that she was not the person to deal with his matter and that he should be taking his allegations to the Police and the Director of Public Prosecutions would be the proper channels to deal with complaints and representation for those complaints. The young man had already made his complaint to the Police when he spoke with Manickchand.
“He has not retained me, neither am I representing him”, she repeated several times during her brief conversation with News Source.
The Attorney explained that a few years ago the young man sought the assistance of the Legal Aid clinic in a matter while she worked there. She said she no longer works with Legal Aid and although she would provide pro bono work and assistance for children she would have represented while there when they run into crisis situations, she made it clear to the young man that she was not the “proper attorney” who should be handling his complaint.
Attorney Manickchand said she could not discuss any detail of the matter that the young man was involved in when she represented his interests a few years ago at the Legal Aid clinic.
News Source understands that the young man who is believed to be in his early 20’s and who has been living in Trinidad for a number of years, armed himself with several other Attorneys who are his friends, and filed the complaint against the Speaker on Friday afternoon. On his Facebook page, he also claims that he give a full video interview to the state owned National Communications Network.
The Alliance for Change and the Speaker of the National Assembly have both said the allegations against the Speaker are as a result of the upcoming no confidence motion and efforts by the governing party to throw the presentation of that motion and its debate in the National Assembly off course.
Filed: 21st September 2014
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