“I will be completely exonerated” -Speaker Trotman on sex abuse claims

“I will be completely exonerated”  -Speaker Trotman on sex abuse claims

Speaker of the National Assembly, Raphael Trotman on Monday said he is confident that he will be exonerated of the allegations of sexual abuse made against him by a young man who is believed to be in his early 20’s.

Speaking to members of the media just outside the Parliamentary Chambers, Trotman said he knows he will be exonerated of the claims because “a lie can’t stand and every lie needs columns of lies to keep that one lie up and this morning I looked at the newspapers and I smiled because everything is just crumbling”.

The young man at the centre of the allegations has been identified as Johnny Antony Welshman. He was born in Guyana but lived in neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago for several years where he claims he founded a group called the  Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Alliance of Trinidad and Tobago.

He recently returned to Guyana and on his Facebook page he started to make the accusations of being sexually molested by his father, his father’s friends and the Speaker of the National Assembly when he was a young boy. In a video post on his Facebook page, he admits that he suffers from severe depression and is on several medications for treating depression. He has admitted attempting suicide on a number of occasions and also said he was seen by a psychiatrist.

Trotman said he knows the young man’s parents and had not seen the young man in years and could not even remembered what he looked like. He said two weeks ago, the young man turned up at his legal office and requested to see him. He said when he came out to meet him in the company of his Secretary, Welshman had to remind him of who he was and he told him that he had moved back to Guyana and was in search of a job and needed a reference.

The Speaker said his Secretary prepared the reference in his company and in that reference he said  he knew the young man’s family but did  not say that he knew the young man personally as he would usually write in references. Trotman said looking back now at that encounter two weeks ago, he is convinced that he was being “set up”.

The Speaker also maintained that he believes that the allegations are being thrown at him for political reasons and are being used as a possible way to throw the no confidence motion off track.

He said he is happy that the Police Force has launched a full investigation and he wants the investigators to get to the bottom of the allegations and he intends to ensure they do not fall back in their probe.

“I am going to cooperate and if I find them lapsing, I will get behind them and I am alright”, Trotman said.

 

Filed: 22nd September, 2014 

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