A 45-year-old man who has been acquitted of rape and sexual assault charges brought by his stepdaughter, nearly six years after she first made the allegations, says the damage to his life is irreversible. As such, his lawyer is demanding a full investigation into alleged police failings in the handling of the case.

Brian McPherson was acquitted of all charges in the St Catherine Circuit Court on Friday, June 27, bringing to a close a case that his attorney, Hugh Wildman, insists should never have gone to trial.

According to Wildman, the charges stemmed from a 2018 accusation by McPherson’s stepdaughter, who alleged that he had been sexually assaulting her since she was eight years old.

“She was living with him and his wife… and she, for some reason, made allegations that since she was eight he was assaulting her. That accusation was made in about 2018, where she went and spoke to her mother and said that the accused man, Mr McPherson, had sex with her recently. The mother was alarmed and so she took her to the Spanish Town Police Station, where she made a report and Mr McPherson was taken into custody by the police [with] CISOCA [Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse] investigating the matter,” the attorney said.

However, Wildman noted that just days after making the accusation, the stepdaughter reportedly returned to her mother in distress and confessed to fabricating the entire story.

He explained that the mother took her daughter to the police station where she retracted her claims and admitted to the lie.

“She went to her mother and she said, ‘Oh God, Mommy, I did something wrong. I told a lie on Uncle Brian, and I want to clear my mind,’ and told the mother that she lied on her stepfather,” Wildman told journalists at a news conference on Monday.

However, Wildman said that in July 2022 the complainant — who was by then living with her biological father — renewed her allegations, claiming that McPherson had sexually assaulted her.

Wildman told journalists that, despite the early retraction and the suspicious timing of the renewed allegation, the case proceeded, without the original confession ever being presented in court.

He pointed out that although the retraction was included in the mother’s statement to the police, the absence of a formal confession from the complainant herself placed his client at risk of wrongful conviction — even though the mother testified in court that she witnessed the police taking her daughter’s statement.

Nonetheless, he said the mother’s testimony was ultimately enough to “save the day”.

“So we are saying that this is a case of suppression of evidence. Where evidence would have been on file that the accused man was innocent, as the stepdaughter admitted that she lied on him and the police refused to take that statement. The mother said she saw them taking it and they came to court and said they didn’t take it. That’s the danger of the whole thing. The mother said she was there when they were taking the statement and there was no statement on file,” he added.

Wildman argued that such a critical lapse by the police should not go unchecked and called for an urgent investigation into the conduct of the cop involved.

In the meantime, McPherson, who was grateful to be acquitted after a week-long trial, said the emotional, social, and personal cost of the case has been overwhelming.

“I am devastated. It scattered my family, we were a good family — my son, my wife’s daughter, and my daughter also. We were a good family, we were comfortable, and to see this happen, it really devastated my life. You know, people scorn you more than others and people have more bad thoughts than good thoughts and you have people who more intend to believe than not to believe,” he said.

According to McPherson, he feels judged, especially at the church where both he and the complainant worshipped.

“After my victory I went to church the following Sunday. People there greet me and there are some who don’t greet me… Some people just don’t want to believe the truth,” he said.

He described the experience of repeatedly returning to court as traumatic, saying he struggled to believe the reality of what he was facing.

“It was like… am I dreaming?”

He said the ordeal has changed his life, describing it as the most terrifying he has ever faced, but affirmed that he is committed to moving forward with faith.

“This is something that taught me a lot and I never have such a terrifying time in my life. It’s like waking up and knowing that something is over your head for almost six years. It’s something you have to face. You can’t run away from it, you just have to face it and wait for that day to come to say yes,” he said.