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(CNS): Congressman McKeeva Bush steadfastly denied allegations of historic sexual assault while taking the stand in his own defense Thursday as his trial continued. During cross-examination with prosecutor Eloise Marshall KC, Bush repeatedly said the incidents described by the woman never happened and that he did not know her, even though he does know her now.
He accused the British authorities of using his political legacy and his struggles with the British and their representatives to plot against him.
Bush said the Attorney General had been hounding him. “I believe some of you guys told her to do this,” he told lawyers representing the Crown in the case, suggesting his accuser was a “sick woman”. He said former premiers and police commissioners, as well as the DPP, had used her against him.
The former prime minister has repeatedly stated that he never rode in a car with the woman who accused him of raping her one night in 2000 on a dark path in a mangrove clearing on West Bay Road.
However, during Bush’s testimony, the court heard that when police first spoke to him about the allegation, he was told the crimes could have occurred between 1999 and 2003. During the trial, prosecutors focused on 2000, while the plaintiff said the crimes could have occurred in 1999.
Although the exact time of the rape has not been determined, Bush has repeatedly stated that he rarely went to the bar in question and would not have been there around 2000. He said it was unlikely that he had been to the Sea Inn bar in the central part of Georgetown because that area was then the territory of Kurt Tibbetts, one of the founders of PPM, and Bush, a West Bay councillor, said Georgetown was not his “area of activity.”
When Marshall asked Bush if the incident actually happened and he had simply forgotten about it, Bush responded, “No, I know very well…it never happened.” He called it a “deliberate and complete lie.”
In response to prosecutors’ questions about whether he had been at the Sea Inn bar at the time of the alleged rape, he repeatedly said he had not been there in 1999 or 2000. “No. I can’t say any more… I never went anywhere with her,” he said, referring to his accuser. He went on to say that no one had ever driven him home from that bar.
Bush also told the court that he had never had sex with anyone on the side of the road, and on the witness stand he stated multiple times that he had never been to any location where the complaint was made, that she had never entered any of his vehicles, and that she had never been to his home. He also disputed the allegation that he drove a Ford Expedition. He said he had never owned that type of vehicle, and that during that time he owned a Lincoln Town Car.
During the cross-examination, Marshall repeatedly questioned Bush about why he had not answered certain questions asked by police during his first interrogation in 2023, suggesting he was preparing for the consequences if he was caught lying. But Bush questioned why he should answer if the lies were untrue. He said he had no reason to answer, especially because he did not trust the police, some of whom “wouldn’t even take notes.”
He said he had never lied to the country and said he could talk all day about the good he had done. He told the lawyers that this included providing enough help to the Cayman Islands economy “to pay you guys back.”
Bush said he told police early in his questioning that he did not know the woman and that the incident had never occurred, and his lawyer advised him not to say anything more.
When asked if he knew the woman’s family, he explained how he knew the woman’s brother (which cannot be detailed here for legal reasons) and said he knew the woman’s mother and the complainant by reputation.
However, Bush claimed that he learned that on one occasion a few years ago, the complainant stopped him on the steps of Parliament, berated him for his notorious status grant and threatened to remove him from office. He said that at the time he did not know who she was, but that a short time later someone who witnessed the incident told him the name of the woman, which was the complainant’s name.
When the woman gave evidence in court she said she had always been interested in running for public office and had met with Roy McTaggart (current PPM leader) to ask him if she might run if she decided to stand as a PPM candidate.
Bush also said he knew the accuser by reputation because she was a teen mom and her children all had different fathers. When the prosecutor asked if that was relevant, Bush accused the attorney of asking him if he knew the woman.
He said his mother, a single parent, taught him from a young age that “there are certain people you can’t hang around with,” at which point his own lawyer stepped in and suggested the court adjourn the case.
When the trial resumed, Bush continued to deny the allegations when Marshall suggested that Bush had raped and sexually abused the woman and asked if he had performed oral sex with the woman, to which Bush responded, “No!”, adding that “that’s the worst thing in the world”.
When asked about the woman, who was clearly traumatized by the rape, he accused her of acting and maintained her denials. Marshall suggested Bush himself was acting, performing to please the jury.
However, his claims of having done “good deeds” in his life, and his allegations to the DPP and other authorities, allowed prosecutors to ask about his previous convictions for violence against women.
Bush suggested the assault he admitted to was because he pulled the victim’s shirt while trying to get his phone back from him during an argument at the beach bar owned by his son. He said he had accepted that it was considered an assault, so he pleaded guilty. But he claimed the argument was caused by the bar manager’s failure to properly distribute tips and downplayed the violence.
His claim distorts the facts. Determined by the court In December 2020, Bush was found guilty and sentenced.
When Marshall pointed out to him that he was drunk and on the ground when the victim tried to help him, he reacted violently. Bush responded by saying he had not “assaulted any women” and claimed the former DPP was “driven out of office because of racism”.
As Marshall continued to question Bush about the rape and sexual assault in the case, Bush continued to vehemently deny that the incident had ever happened. He said the woman was lying and told prosecutors that these were lies “that you have been telling all along.”
The case is ongoing.
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