By Momodou Justice Darboe
The Standard has obtained the report of the police investigation into the many allegations of rape and sexual abuse against Melville Roberts, a one-time director at the foreign affairs ministry.
The report detailed the alleged sexual encounters between Melville and at least four young women between the ages of 22 and 31, all of whom accused Roberts of rape and other sexual offences.
When the ladies lodged these complaints at the Gender and Child Protection Unit of the police, Roberts was in the United Kingdom, pursuing a Master’s degree program at Oxford University.
According to the police report while Roberts was in the U.K, the police filed [at] Kanifing Magistrates’ Court 3 counts of criminal charges with a view to requesting from the UK authorities the extradition of the suspect.
The ladies’ names have been withheld, referring to them as Victim 1, 2, 3 and 4.
The police report reveals in part the following findings: “From the fact[s] of the case, it’s obvious that there was sexual intercourse between the suspect [Melville] and Victim 1 in 2017. The victim alleged that she was having romance with the suspect [Melville] and the suspect eventually instructed her to [take] off her trousers otherwise he will do it [for] himself.
She said this made her scared and she was thinking of how the suspect might have stabbed her with a knife. Therefore, she willingly removed her trousers and had sexual intercourse with the suspect. However Melville had insisted that the sexual intercourse that he had with herwas consensual and he had even given her cash and driven her home. He further claimed to have exchanged light-hearted messages with her after she left his residence. This is established under findings A4 and A5 which made it clear from the medical evidence that the victim was not a virgin…however same does not suggest that the victim was indeed raped as nothing in the evidence suggests any forceful penetration which would have resulted to bleeding and presence of laceration and or abrasion. The evidence further revealed that the victim did not report the case at the earliest possible time which may also possibly make the evidence defective and thereby create doubt on the evidence adduced by the victim.”
On Victim 2, the police reports revealed that she became acquainted with Melville on Facebook and was subsequently invited to his residence on 5 October 2017 where she was allegedly raped.
“The victim further claimed to have informed her friend [name withheld] about her ordeals.
However, her friend’s testimony was a narration of what she was told by the victim after her alleged abuse. It is consistent that the evidence of [her friend] is nothing but hearsay evidence which the investigators could not rely on to establish the guilt of the suspect.
Melville and Victim 2 continued to exchange messages throughout the 7th to the 29th of October 2017, during which they talked about the experience they had on the night of 5 October 2017,” the police reported stated.
With regard to Victim 3, the police report said it has been established that she was not raped by the suspect. “She’s alleged to have been harassed by the suspect upon visiting him at his residence in Paradise Estate where the suspect [Melville] demanded for her to scratch his head which she refused and the suspect squeezed her hand, an allegation strongly dismissed by the suspect,” the reported noted.
“As for the 4th victim, she alleged that she was abused by the suspect in his house when he attempted to rape her. However, the suspect had claimed that the victim is a secret girlfriend who he had sexual intercourse with on several occasions.
“The victim refused to be medically examined following a request by the investigation panel to conduct medical examination. In light of the above findings and opinion, the panel recommends the entire case file to be taken to the Attorney General’s Chambers,” the report concluded.
It could be recalled that reports received by The Standard a fortnight ago intimated that Melville Roberts has been slammed with rape and sexual abuse charges by the state.
But Melville himself said the charges were triggered by the Attorney General and Minister of Justice whom he accused of jettisoning the police report to drag him through a legal quagmire.
