WESTERN BUREAU — The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) will decide whether a newly-elected councillor in the St James Parish Council is to be charged with collusion in connection with the brutal gang rape of a 31 year-old woman.

According to head of the St James police, Superintendent Newton Amos, the case file will be sent to the DPP as soon as the police complete their investigations into the July 11 incident. At present, he said, cops do not have enough evidence to charge the councillor.

“We got a comprehensive statement from the victim. She stated categorically in her statement, and otherwise, that… she consented to have sex with him,” Amos explained. “She had sex with him. Some time after they were through, he left the room and some time after, seven men came in, one had a gun and they proceeded to rape her. That is what we have on paper…”

He added: “The councillor gave a comprehensive statement and his statement is exactly as the woman said. We cannot charge him for rape.”

The superintendent added that investigations were continuing.

“What we are trying to verify is whether there is collusion between himself and the others,” Amos said. “We have no evidence so far to substantiate that. So to ensure that we are doing the right thing we are collecting all the statements… When all the statements are collected we are sending the file to the DPP.”

Meanwhile, the victim is said to be living in fear as her attackers know where she lives.

“She is in fear for her life. She says the men know where she lives,” said the woman’s attorney, Clayton Morgan. “During the incident, she lost her cellular phone. The allegations are that the phone was returned to her house on Saturday in the afternoon, by the councillor.

The rape, Morgan said, took place in Montego Bay between 9:00 pm and 10:30 pm in the city last Friday night.

Following the alleged ordeal Morgan said his client went to the police and was later taken to the Cornwall Regional Hospital where she was treated and released.