Bush told police ‘truth will come out’ when charged: Cayman News Service

(CNS): Lead detective Nevron Bradshaw in the sexual assault case of former Prime Minister McKeeva Bush (69) told the court that when he warned and accused him of rape, the politician had said: “All I’m saying is, the truth will come out.” When Bush was arrested and questioned on the charges, he answered “no comment” throughout, only telling police that he did not know the woman who made the allegations, had never been anywhere with her, and that the incident had never happened.

Giving evidence on Wednesday, the final prosecution witness, Detective Constable Bradshaw, said he had spoken to some PPM members who were believed to have attended an event at a Georgetown bar after the charges were laid. According to Bush’s accuser, she was asked to drive Bush home on an unknown night, possibly in 2000.

The woman said she went to the Sea Inn bar to pick up her mother, who needed a ride home. Bush was at the bar with several PPM members, including Kurt Tibbetts and Alden McLaughlin. She said they were celebrating something related to McLaughlin’s political career.

Officer Bradshaw said he had contacted McLaughlin to see if he could recall any specific incidents involving him at the time. But McLaughlin told police that while he was aware of the allegations at the time, he knew nothing about them and could not make a statement. He did, however, say that the politicians were at the bar on several occasions during the estimated time. He said he knew the woman’s mother was a regular there, but he knew nothing about the allegations and was therefore unable to assist with the investigation.

The officer also mentioned other people the woman had told before reporting the allegation to the Royal Canadian Police Association, including a longtime friend who is also a police officer. But when Bradshaw contacted her, she said she knew nothing about the matter.

The officer’s testimony came from two people connected to the court via Zoom who knew the woman when she was living in the United States. The woman told the two witnesses about her rape less than a year before she went to police. They both said she told them she had been raped years earlier by a powerful man in the Cayman Islands.

One of them is a pastor in a counseling ministry who had worked with the woman to help her overcome some historical trauma, and during counseling she spoke about the rape allegation. He said she mentioned McKeeva Bush’s name and said she was led down a dark path where the sexual assault occurred.

Another witness, a church friend, said she believed the woman told her about the incident sometime in 2018 or 2019 when they were both living in Florida; the woman did not name the politician involved but told her he was a powerful man in the Cayman Islands.

A third witness, a longtime friend who appeared in court via Zoom on Tuesday afternoon, also said the woman had told her about sexual assaults, first 12 years ago. The woman told her she was raped when she was very young by a prominent figure in the Cayman Islands, but she did not say the man was a politician or identify him.

On Wednesday, prosecutors closed their case against Bush after the final witness testified, presenting the jury with a list of agreed-upon facts in the case, such as the ages of Bush and his accusers, the fact that McLaughlin was elected in 2000, the dates Bush was arrested and charged, and his denials of the charges.

The case is ongoing.