Nicholas Laughlin's blog etc.

The press in the rest of the Caribbean doesn't seem to have picked up on this yet, but the speaker of St. Lucia's House of Representatives, Matthew Roberts, has been at the centre of an unfolding controversy for nearly three months now. This weekend's edition of the Star gives a detailed summary. Roberts has been accused of rape by the "flamboyant" (i.e. openly homosexual) Paris-based St. Lucian model Vincent McDoom; the alleged attack took place twenty years ago, when McDoom was a minor. Roberts has refused to respond to the allegations, & prime minister Kenny Anthony has also remained silent. Former prime minister Vaughan Lewis, writing in last weekend's Star, called for Roberts to speak up, but the government seems to think the scandal will simply go away if they ignore it steadfastly enough.