Trotman gags rape accuser

… files Gy$50M lawsuit for libel

Speaker of the National Assembly and Alliance For Change (AFC) member, Raphael Trotman, secured an injunction late on Monday, restraining Johnny Anthony Welshman – the young man who has accused him of raping him when he was just 12 – from making any statements or publishing any materials about the issue.

Trotman has since denied the allegations. In the court documents filed on Monday, Trotman is also seeking a whopping Gy$50 million for libel contained in articles published in the Stabroek News and the Guyana Times on Monday and materials circulated on Welshman’s Facebook page beginning on Friday last.

Affidavit

The ex-parte affidavit in support of the application for an interim injunction states, “…restraining the defendant whether by himself, his servants and or agents howsoever from publishing and or attempting to publish whether in print, electronic or any other media any material relating and or pertaining to allegations of sexual assault by the plaintiff on the defendant”.

In addition, Trotman had asked that all the contents referring to himself that have been posted on the Facebook page of Welshman be removed forthwith. The 22-year-old Welshman has accused Trotman of allegedly sexually abusing him several years ago. The young man noted that he was first abused by Trotman at the age of 12, but was being sexually abused since the age of eight by a close relative and another person.

According to the young man, the abuse has left him suffering from depression, post traumatic stress disorder, behavioural problems, poor self-esteem and suicidal thoughts. Questioned by journalists at the Parliament Building on Monday, Trotman maintained his innocence.

Police

Although he had not been contacted by the Guyana Police Force, Trotman said he was prepared to cooperate as he placed his trust in the hands of investigators. “I have every confidence that not only would the Police do a good and thorough investigation, but I am confident that I would be completely exonerated,” he said. Questioned about what makes him so “confident”, Trotman said: “A lie can’t stand and every lie needs columns of lies to keep that one lie up and when I look at the newspaper this morning, I smiled because everything is now crumbling.”

Asked too about the letter of recommendation that he had written for Welshman, the Speaker said he did it based on the fact that he knew Welshman’s father – Johnny Terry Welshman, who now resides in Brazil. He explained that his secretary had informed him that a “Johnny Welshman” was there to see him. Trotman added that he had not recognised the young man who called him “Uncle Raphael”.

The young man reportedly said he was back from Trinidad and Tobago and needed a reference. “I said ok, and I did something very general, because I would normally say I know the person, but I said I know the family… the secretary prepared it and I signed it,” he recalled. According to him, the transaction was done at the “counter”.

He added, “I now realise that I have been set up.” He maintains that with God by his side, he would be exonerated.

In an earlier statement, Trotman described the allegations made by Welshman Junior as “wicked assertions”, positing that they are being peddled by “an unstable young man, who appears to have a troubled mind”. He is convinced that the allegations against him are politically motivated. “Conveniently, such scandalous assertions are obviously intended to provide a timely distraction from the serious prevailing political situation in Guyana, which imminently requires me as Speaker of the National Assembly to guide the ship of the nation’s Parliament through the strongest test to Guyana’s constitutional democracy: the debate of a no-confidence motion,” he said.