Raymond
(CARIBBEAN NEWS NOW) — Along with the news that former US congressman, Anthony Wiener, will shortly be released from federal prison after being convicted of texting sexually graphic pictures to an under-age female, Saint Lucia’s own ‘Weiner’ case involving public service minister, Ubaldus Raymond, has been settled in mediation.
A complaint to the local police by Raymond that he was the victim of attempted blackmail in relation to nude photos he sent to Curshaby Alexander and Kershel Louis, both of whom were just over 18 at the time in 2017 was withdrawn from the magistrate’s court in favour of mediation.
The case involved photos of Raymond with his pants down, reclining in a chair with his legs spread and firmly presenting his penis to the camera. The photos appeared to have been taken in an office-like setting, but there was no confirmation whether it was home or public.
The photos went viral on social media. It left little to doubt that Raymond had posed for the photos, taken by either ‘selfie’ or shot by someone in the room.
The publication of the photos was accompanied by screenshots of a social media conversation purporting to coerce Raymond into paying EC$700 (US$259) to discourage online publication of the images.
From the time the allegations were first made, there have been calls for Prime Minister Allen Chastanet to ask Raymond to resign or dismiss him. However, Raymond, who was minister in the ministry of finance at the time, seemingly felt no remorse for his actions, claiming it was a political hit job.
“I will not give in to political operatives who will use the most disgusting tactics in order to malign my name or to scare me into submission,” he said.
Chastanet seemed equally disinclined to address the issue.
However, the matter was sent to mediation reportedly to avoid embarrassing court proceedings, testimony and cross examination, because, as one local wag put it, “He would have had to provide evidence of the blackmail, his physical composition and disprove that the ‘Vienna sausage club’ pictures are not of his stature.”
A recent social media posting entitled “The Curious Case of Baldy’s Blackmail” sums up some of the local attitudes to the affair:
“It was a rather strange case of Ubaldus Raymond, hanging out and playing in his office which caused much shame to himself, his family and his political colleagues. The price for admission was all of $700, which, in a strange twist of fate, Baldy had to pay to make sure we did not see. Many wondered why would a man not just give the money, after all it was someone with whom he had relations with and by all accounts had dealt with many times before. Why not? Whether it was just the thought of having two for one or just plain arrogance and disdain, it was an embarrassing consequence. It was a strange happening.
“The public statement issued by Ubaldus Raymond is even stranger. He now claims he accepted the path of mediation because he realised that forgiveness is stronger than revenge and hate! For a man who refused to give $700 to someone with whom he had salacious relations but instead venture into a distasteful public spat to then discover forgiveness, that’s curious!
“Mediation is confidential and so details discussed there are not placed in public as oppose to a public criminal hearing where all information would have to come out. But having chosen mediation to hide all his shame, he now comes out with a public statement, which does not truly reflect what happened at mediation.
“Under cross examination in court he would have had to answer to whether he knew the girls, what was the nature of his relationship with them, did they exchange the messages and pictures that were made public and whether the photos were of him. Because only if it could be established that the messages are true and the girls have no basis to feel they had a right to the $700 could it be blackmail.
“Then according to Ubaldus Raymond he has accepted the ‘apology’. Can I hear or read the apology? This is the more curious part. The alleged blackmail was a public shame. The hurt was a public hurt. So why is the apology private? Why did Baldy not ask for a public apology, if there was one?
“It is even more curious to note that mediation agreements are confidential and once signed off by the judge it must be treated as such. Then why did Baldy then it is necessary to make a public statement.
“But the most curious part was the audacity of Baldy! To suggest that the girls will be scarred for life, and to appeal to the youth to aspire to a life of hard work and not a path of crime is blatant hypocrisy and ranking insult. Does Baldy feel no remorse for his actions?
“Let us assume the girls had his photos and were trying to blackmail him. They were wrong and act criminally. But surely it is also wrong to be naked in a government office masturbating! It is also wrong to bare it all and have relations with a schoolchild, on summer job. I don’t care if he sends photos to his women. My issue is the fact that he was in a government office naked, masturbating. Interfering with a schoolchild, who he was trusted to keep safe in the ministry of finance. For that we need a public apology!
“So the girls’ lawyers may have done what was is best for their client to get them out scot free. They are young and need to go on with their lives. It just so happens to be what is best for Baldy, saving him from more embarrassment. And the people of Saint Lucia lose again while Baldy lives to play another day. All five inches to stay alive [a play on the Chastanet government’s pre-election slogan of ‘Five to stay alive’].”
Even more curiously Raymond, a father, husband, a minister of government, an elder in the Seventh Day Adventist Church is only now discovering forgiveness, again, seemingly having been caught in an embarrassing moment of humiliation.
According to Raymond:
“They [the two ‘barely-legal’ girls] were very repentant in their apologies. I am happy it has come to an end. I encouraged them and told them that though they cannot erase their past however they need to focus on their future. They were very repentant in their apologies.
“I do accept their apologies and I always believe that forgiveness is always stronger than hate and revenge. I have forgiven these two young ladies for their criminal act against myself and my family and of course the rest of the country I would say.
“I encouraged them and told them that though they cannot erase their past however they need to focus on their future.”
Again, social media commentary was illuminating:
• “Made in St Lucia, government minister who engaged in salacious lifestyles with adolescences now encourages young people to take the path of hard work and dedication.”
• “This is not about forgiveness. The young ladies discovered that they are up against a minister who has more power than them and with 30 years jail sentence looming over their heads they apologized. If things were really fair it would have been Ubaldas apologizing.”
• “This reveals the predatory behavior of some occupants in authority. It lays bare the perversions and deviance of party politics. How long will we wait until the next sordid character shows up? The black Brett Kavanagh. Yuk!”
• “Retaining him in government is as allowing Satan to preach from the pulpit of a church. Only a corrupt and an unethical administration will keep such a morally depraved scoundrel around them.”
• “Ubaldus should be ashamed of himself. You are an embarrassment to your wife and son. Everyone saw your small sausage on display, nasty pervert. Nasty, dirty old man… that’s what you are Ubaldus Raymond.”
In the meantime, anyone expecting Raymond to apologise to the nation and resign as a minister of government appears to be in for a long wait.
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