A secondary school principal on the sister isle of Carriacou has been implicated in the sex molestation scandal involving a 55-year old teacher who has been charged by police with Child Pornography, and Cultivating and Enticing an Online Relationship with a Child (under 18 years) which is an indictable offence.
A source familiar with the investigation told THE NEW TODAY that the name of the principal was given in a Caution Statement to police investigators by Leslie Stewart who appeared before Chief Magistrate Teddy St. Louis on Friday to face the criminal charges that could end up before a high court trial before a judge and jury.
Stewart who is being represented by attorney-at-law, George Prime was placed on EC$20, 000.00 bail and is due back in court on July 19 at the Hillsborough Magistrate’s Court on the sister isle.
Stewart, who has been linked to sexual abuse of minors as far back as 1996, was transported to Grenada from Carriacou in handcuffs on Friday morning for his first court appearance before the Chief Magistrate at the St. George’s No.1 Magistrate’s Court.
In his caution statement to the police, Stewart was asked by the interrogator who knew about this “sex molestation” thing with the female students, and he said “the principal”.
According to the source, any proper investigation into the matter by the Royal Grenada Police Force (RGPF) will result in the Principal being called in and questioned since this is a very serious allegation made against him.
He said that the principal should be “shaking in his boots” because of Stewart’s statement to the police.
“That is the next likely man that should be picked up – it is either that he is complicit … because if this thing was going on for so long and he knew, he did nothing,” he remarked.
The source insisted that there is no other way for the police to proceed except along that path to get to the bottom of the sex scandal at the school in Carriacou.
“People know but because of the clannish nature of the society, I believe that is what caused it not to be exposed in the manner in which it is now,” he remarked.
Before he was arrested and charged, Stewart is known to have issued a threat that he would not go down alone in the sex scandal matter but also the principal and others.
THE NEW TODAY cannot give the name of the school principal as this is only an allegation.
The source said that the sex molestation matter is a longstanding issue on the sister isle that was known by many persons but it was kept quiet given the close-knit society that Carriacou is in the scheme of things in Grenada.
According to the source, the evidence against Stewart is “very strong” and that a plea bargain should be high on the agenda for his legal representatives.
Attorney Prime was met by a hostile group of protestors as he arrived on the court compound to represent Stewart.
Several persons were outside the court engaged in an anti-Stewart protest and carrying placard demanding no bail for the alleged sexual molestation suspect.
Prime was heard telling the protestors, “I don’t identify with those things at all, please don’t paint me with the same brush, let me pass and get into the court”.
The attorney who is a former Magistrate told the protestors that Stewart has a right to face the court and deal with his legal troubles.
The source said that the Stewart case has now highlighted what is a societal problem in Carriacou with teachers having sexual relationship with their female students.
“I don’t want to be pointing fingers at anybody but it is a case. Further to that, I am told it has other teachers in the school including the principal (who know about these sexual molestation),” he added.
Stewart is accused of sending over six hundred pages of sexually explicit messages to a student over a ten month period from April 2020.
Chief Magistrate St. Louis ordered the accused not to have contact with students and children and to surrender all travel documents and report twice weekly at the police station in Carriacou.
Stewart is said to be cooperating with the police and told investigators that the messages he sent to the 15-year old female student were consensual and he did nothing wrong.
Under the Electronic Crimes Act, a person under 18 years does not have the right of consent to exchange sexually explicit messages.
On the charge of cultivating an online relationship, the maximum penalty is two years imprisonment or a fine of $250, 000.00.