Bajan ex-deputy speaker found not guilty of rape
BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC)— The former deputy speaker of the Barbados Parliament, Neil Rowe, was on Wednesday found not guilty of raping a woman at his Kingsland, Christ Church residence on September 18, 2022.
Rowe, 45, had been on trial over the last month, accused of having sexual intercourse with the woman without her consent or being reckless as to whether she consented.
But a nine-member jury found him not guilty of the charge that was heard by Justice Pamela Beckles, who had given a three-hour summation in the Supreme Court after 26 days of testimony.
In January last year, Prime Minister Mia Mottley defended the decision to remove Rowe as deputy speaker, saying it would allow him to deal with the matter he faced before the High Court.
At the time, she insisted that Rowe would have remained as the parliamentary representative for St Michael North West constituency.
