The Donald Ramotar administration on Wednesday said it was concerned that the police chief, Henry Greene has admitted to having ‘consensual sexual intercourse’ with a woman who had sought his assistance in a criminal matter that was under investigation.
Breaking his silence on the issue, Greene in an affidavit on Tuesday said he never forced the woman who alleged that he had raped her and that the sexual intercourse was consensual.
Greene is currently on leave pending the outcome of the case.
The Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) has since advised that he be charged with rape, but through a battery of lawyers led by Senior Counsel Rex McKay, Greene secured a temporary injunction in the High Court, blocking the police from instituting the charge.
Asked to comment on Greene’s admission that he had consensual sex with his accuser, Cabinet Secretary and Secretary to the Defence Board, Dr Roger Luncheon told a news conference that “It is indeed a matter of concern. It has been raised with the administration. I know about those concerns, I know it has been raised with the administration, but I will admit that the focus has been on what would come out or now what have actually arisen from the involvement of the DPP and the consideration of charges”.
“The DPP having advised charges be laid by the police led to the commissioner going to the court and taking certain steps. We are paying much more attention to that matter and its outcome. And I do agree that considerable attention would ultimately have to be paid to the aspect that you raise.”
On whether Greene still enjoyed the conditions of a commissioner of police, Dr Luncheon said those terms and conditions have remained unaltered during this period of the investigation.
Greene on Tuesday secured a temporary injunction prohibiting acting police chief Leroy Brummel and Crime Chief Seelall Persaud from charging him for rape, arguing that the advice given by the DPP is “irrational, unreasonable and unlawful”. Greene sought the orders Certiorari and Prohibition to quash the advice tendered by the DPP on or about February 3, 2012 to Brummel and Persaud to institute a charge of rape, and to prevent both from acting on the said advice of the DPP. The named parties are to make a court appearance on February 20, where they are expected to contest the injunction filed before acting Chief Justice Ian Chang.
In his affidavit, Greene 57 admitted to having sex with the woman, but noted that it was consensual. He also said he was not armed nor did he force the woman to sleep with him. Green said in his affidavit that on Tuesday, November 15, his accuser requested to see him at his office in Eve Leary, Kingston, and was cleared by his staff to do so. She, Greene related, complained that police were investigating an allegation against her but she was hearing nothing about it and wanted to know what was happening.
According to him, he would usually meet members of the public on Tuesdays and meeting the woman was part of that normal procedure.
Greene noted that he took the woman’s complaint and promised that he would look into the matter. He said he returned to his office on November 22 where he informed her that the matter was referred to the DPP for advice. “She then told me that a cell phone was taken from her by the police and was lodged at Sparendaam Police Station. She then asked me if I could get back the cell phone or get access to the cell phone to get a number of some friends in Trinidad.” Greene said he told the woman that “it is not possible for me to get back the phone”, because it was being used for investigation purposes.
The police chief said the woman said she wanted to meet him socially to which he responded by telling her he was having a meeting at the Officers’ Mess, Eve Leary at 19: 00h, where she said she would meet him.
He added that during the afternoon of that same day, he contacted the woman and informed her that he had spoken with one of the investigators who confirmed that the file was with the DPP. “She did visit the Officers’ Mess on the night of 22nd November, 2011, where we spent some time talking and consuming beverages. We both agreed that when we leave the Officer’s Mess, we will go somewhere private. After we left the Officer’s Mess, we drove to the villa where we entered a private room where we had consensual sexual intercourse. I never had a gun in my possession of the night of the 22nd November, 2011,” he said in his affidavit.
After leaving the hotel, Greene said they drove to Regent Street where “we purchased food at her request” in the presence of several persons, and were at the stall for about 15 minutes. After purchasing the meal for the woman, Greene said he took her to her East Coast Demerara (ECD) home where she once again asked about her phone. He told her that the investigation would be compromised, and as such, she would have to wait until the DPP makes a decision.
Casting doubts on the woman’s credibility, Greene said a check of her “background and history were necessary to establish the crime charged”. “The complainant has been under investigation by the Guyana Police Force since October 2011, for extortion by demanding a large sum of money (Gy$ 2,000,000) from the wife of a policeman, who she alleged had an adulterous relationship with her husband at an East Coast Hotel. She said she hid in the hotel room and took photographs of her husband and the woman having sex.”
Greene also contended that a close examination of the statement first given to the police will certainly reveal that the sexual encounter between him and the complainant was consensual and will negate the key contested issues of probable compulsion and lack of consent. He argued too that a closer examination of the statements made by the complainant would point to only one conclusion that the woman “lacks credibility and her allegation of rape is not credible”.
Greene is being represented by Senior Counsel Rex McKay and attorneys Neil Boston and Bettina Glasford.
In December 2011, the 34-year-old mother of two accused Greene of raping her at a city hotel. The woman broke her story to the media before going with her attorney Nigel Hughes to the Brickdam Police Station to file an official complaint.
Since then, there have been several calls by civil society for Greene to resign from his post as police commissioner.
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