S2.E6: It Was 'Blackmail' Says Michael Browne

Having been acquitted at trial on two serious criminal charges, MP Michael Browne appeared live on Facebook recently to address the public, dismissing the allegation of his accuser as false, stating it was was concocted to "blackmail" and extort him, and accusing current and former police officers of being complicit in what he described as an orchestrated attempt to ruin him. Browne was arrested and charged in November of 2020 and only recently acquitted at trial in December 2021. The judge was not satisfied that the charge against him had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt. In this episode, a former justice minister and a political analyst react to the newest turn in what many assumed was a scandal in its waning days. This programme first aired on NewsCo Observer Radio 91.1 FM on January 9th, 2022. The host is Kieron Murdoch. The guests are: Colin Derrick, attorney at law. He was a Senator and Cabinet Minister during the Baldwin Spencer administration. His portfolios at various times included National Security, Justice, and Public Safety. Dr. George Brathwaite, Lecturer in the Department of Government, Sociology, Social Work and Psychology at The University of the West Indies, Cavehill. Former Consultant Editor at the Caribbean Times. Political adviser and commentator. The Blackmail claim: The MP maintained his innocence from the onset. But with the trial over, now he has more latitude to publicly defend his name and discuss all that happened, according to him. Due to the nature of the charges over which he was brought to trial, there were statutory restrictions and court imposed restrictions on what details could be published by the media. Recently, on Facebook, MP Browne said that a police officer who was the sister of his accuser contacted him before his arrest. He said, "the promise was that if I was to make a certain amount of payments this matter would never go to court..." adding, "I resisted, and after I resisted charges were brought. But I was comfortable because I knew that the facts spoke for themselves..." A confidential source with intimate knowledge of the trial disputed this. The source told the host of The Big Issues that during the phone call in question, the accuser's sister, who is also a police officer, "never asked for money" directly, but "merely inquired whether he [Michael Browne] spoke to persons about settling the matter and if he was willing to go to court". The officer was apparently a prosecution witness at trial. Nonetheless, Browne says the genesis of the allegation against him was a malicious orchestrated attempt to ruin him, and one that involved the cooperation of "several police officers past and present who played a very active role...in ensuring that they would bring Michael Browne to pay, or bring Michael Browne down". He further alleged that unnamed persons had confided in him that they were promised money if they offered testimony against him. At some stage in his online address, he stated, “I forgive my accuser, and I forgive those who would have collaborated. I forgive you because God forgives me for my sins and for my trespasses. Get the latest news from Antigua and Barbuda at the Antigua Observer online.