(Trinidad Express) Express Investigative Reporter Anika Gumbs resigned yesterday stating that she was “mentally scarred” and “traumatised” by “an unfortunate experience” with Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley.
In her resignation letter dated August 7, 2015 addressed to Express Editor-in-Chief Omatie Lyder, Gumbs stated that during a visit to Rowley’s Diego Martin home on April 20 to pursue a story she was “astonished” to see he was bareback.
During a conversation she said she mentioned to Rowley that she had received prank calls and “to her shock and surprise,” Rowley said: “Would you hire me to be your bodyguard outside your bedroom?”
“I immediately went numb and blank. I felt completely helpless and confused as if I was being trapped in a situation that I was totally unprepared for,” Gumbs stated in the letter.
Gumbs said that on a previous visit to Rowley’s home on April 9, he touched her on her back and asked if she had a tattoo of a map on it. She said she told him that the “tattoo on my back was not a map but a butterfly”. She said Rowley asked her the meaning of the butterfly tattoo, and she replied: “It’s all part of being chic”.
She said as Rowley walked her to the front of his home, a bee landed on her dress and Rowley removed it, saying: “Even honey bees landing on you”.
Gumbs said the “entire incident prompted me to shelve all of my work dresses” and she opted instead to wear “only pant suits while on duty”.
Gumbs said in January at the end of another interview with Rowley, this time at his Port of Spain office, Rowley asked whether she had recently returned from vacation and when she said she was on leave, Rowley replied: “You are looking rosy”.
In announcing her decision to resign, Gumbs said: “On reflection I now feel unable to communicate with Dr Rowley any longer because he betrayed my trust and expectations…The unfortunate experience has left me mentally scarred and traumatised. As a woman I felt frightened and disrespected because of the compromising situation I unexpectedly found myself. I remain shocked that Dr Rowley, a political leader, a husband, a father and grandfather, a man I held in such high regard could have acted in such an inappropriate manner and uttered such suggestive words to me.”
Gumbs said her decision to resign was not an easy one. “However, in upholding the highest standards of journalism and to avoid the Express Newspapers from being brought into disrepute, I have opted to sever all ties with the company,” she stated.
“This is the latest instalment of the No Rowley campaign.”
This was how Rowley yesterday described the claims made by Gumbs that he acted inappropriately towards her.
“It is a continuation of the Vernella (Alleyne-Toppin)’s attempt at slander. They are both geared towards the same objective, to make me unpalatable to the electorate” he said.
Rowley said he believed that the good people of this country who are sensible, would see this charge for what it is. “These are acts of desperation…The Vernella slander has failed and so (you) try and try again”.
Deeming Gumbs’ claims an “outrageous and shocking conspiracy to slander me”, Rowley said he was referring the matter to his lawyers.
When the Express first called Rowley, his immediate response was one of shock. “What! Where and when?” he asked.
Saying that he could not recall any incident with Gumbs, Rowley said that he has dealt with her over the years but that his recollection was on the occasions that Gumbs had been to his home, it was at her request. He said he accommodated her, adding that the visits were related to information with respect to stories she was writing.
