Neil Gabriel Rowe maintained throughout his interview with police that he did not rape his accuser.
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The judge, jury, prosecutors, defence counsel, members of the media and others in the No. 2 Supreme Court yesterday watched the 127-minute video recording of Rowe being questioned by police and, in a subsequent 27-minute recording, him being formally charged with rape on October 22, 2022.
Viewers saw Rowe, clad in a black T-shirt, sitting through that interview with his arms folded and his back against the wall as he sported a red cap and wore a medical mask while lead investigator, former Station Sergeant Arthur Springer, questioned him.
Springer took the stand for most of yesterday in a lengthy testimony that spanned Rowe first coming into custody at one station, his interview at another, a visit to his home in the presence of the woman who accused him of rape and a return to the police station.
During the visit to the house, the woman repeated her rape claims, said Springer, and he asked Rowe if he heard and understood them.
Rowe responded, said the former policeman, saying: “I did not have sex with . . . . [She] knows very well I did not have sex with her.”
The accused told police that when he asked the woman if she did not recall him “making love” to her, he was “playing with her mind and joking with her”, the witness said.
Asked questions
Springer said while he was at the Glebe Police Station on October 22, 2022, Rowe arrived with attorney Arthur Holder and was interviewed about the rape allegation, initially being asked more than 45 questions, and that information written in his official notebook which Rowe signed.
Springer said he left the Barbados Police Service in December 2023, turned in all his associated items, including uniforms and notebooks, but wrote a statement based on the notes and he referred to that statement yesterday.
Rowe, he said, agreed to the video recording and they went to Oistins Police Station where he was cautioned. During the recording, one of his first responses was that he did not have sex with the woman, neither did he rape her, adding that they met in July 2022, were dating and went to breakfast and lunch, and he took lunch for her and her children one afternoon.
Rowe, said Springer, recalled seeing the woman at High Gate walking in his direction at one point and saw her consuming whiskey, but could not say how much. While she appeared under the influence, she was not drunk and she told the person who brought her that she was going home with Rowe, but he did not go straight home as the woman said she was hungry, the former officer recounted.
They passed through St Lawrence but the hamburger man was closed, Rowe told him.
Springer said the parliamentarian stated that at his home, the woman wanted to use the bathroom and she went to it as she had been at the house more than once.
As the woman was on the toilet, Rowe said he stood by the door and asked her if she was “okay” as she was on the toilet for a “few minutes” and he at first thought she was passing water but she looked sleepy, the former lawman recounted.
Showered together
The woman got into the shower, took off her clothes and they showered together after which he gave her a towel she used to dry her skin, Springer recalled Rowe as saying.
He said Rowe told him the woman did not appear dazed or incoherent. Rowe told him she asked for something to wear, he gave her a shirt, she got into the bed and fell asleep but “not immediately”.
He said Rowe denied he performed oral sex on the woman and repeated “I said no, sir” in response to the question. It was not true that the woman awoke to him performing oral sex on her and asked him to stop, and neither did he have sex or attempted to have sex with her, Rowe told him.
“I will say it again, I did not have sex with Miss . . . ,” Springer quoted Rowe as saying.
He added that when he asked Rowe about recalling if the woman asked him why he performed oral sex on her, he responded that was in a text message.
When they were at the accused’s home, the virtual complainant pointed out the bedroom, stating that she remembered it because she was there before and she also pointed out the bathroom. Back at the station, Rowe said “not at the moment” when asked about his attorney and gave no written statement, Springer said. (AC)