Tonight the Leader of the Opposition, Patrick Faber is a wanted man. Despite efforts to have a domestic charge withdrawn, the Commissioner of Police says he is pushing through with warrant for Faber's arrest for the assault of his girlfriend Dr Shanikka Arnold - allegedly with a hammer - and the damage to her property, specifically, her laptop computer.
Now, very importantly - there is major pushback against this tonight. Dr. Arnold has sent out a signed statement saying that she, quote "withdraws any and all charges levied against Patrick Faber as a result of my report and statement made on January 19, 2022."
But, today the Commissioner of Police said that statement is solid - and because for the nature of the complaint he is pushing through with charges no matter what. Here's what he told the media in a Soon press briefing at 4:00 pm:
Chester Williams - Commissioner of Police
"Yesterday Mr. Arnold did visit the domestic violence unit in Belize City and she made a complaint against the leader of the opposition Mr. Patrick Faber and the report this morning of a domestic nature where she is alleging that Mr. Faber had caused damage to her laptop and had also assaulted her as she was about to leave their home in Lord's Bank area. Police have since issued a warrant in the first instance for the arrest of Mr. Faber and at this time he is current being sought by the police so that he can be charged and taken before the court."
Reporter
"It shouldn't be difficult to locate Mr. Faber. When did that warrant go out?"
Chester Williams
"If it is not difficult, perhaps you can tell me where he is."
Reporter
"So, what time did it go out?"
Chester Williams
"This morning."
Jules Vasquez
"Sir now I know my experience in these matters when it's a prominent public official, usually a call is made and some sort of appointment is made for them to go in, be processed, accept their charge etc. It's not necessarily where you go to their house. Some courtesy is shown, the man is a member of the parliament. What an attempt made to do that in this case to contact Mr. Faber directly?"
Chester Williams
"I know that Mr. Dickie Bradley had called me earlier and said that Mr. Faber had contacted him to have a meeting with him and that he would turn Mr. Faber into the police this afternoon. We are still awaiting for that to happen, nonetheless the police did visit the home of Mr. Faber in Lord's Bank and he was not there and we are looking in other places where we believe he might be in order to locate him."
Jules Vasquez
"Has there been any suggestion to say she will recant her statement sir?"
Chester Williams
"Well if she were to recant, she would have to do that at the court. The fact is we have obtained a statement from her and she requested court action and so we will procedure with the matter before the court and if she decide later on she does not wish the matter to go any further, then we suggest she goes to the court and do that and not through the police. The fact again with these domestic issues, we tend to at times downplay them and then it turned out to be worse, so in order for us to make sure that should something more serious happen later on down the road, we can always say that yes, the lady came to us, we did our part but then she went to the courts and she did xyz and our hands are tied. I know for a fact that all day yesterday and today she has been under extreme pressure from many different quarters trying to convince her not to pursue the matter and she has so far stood her grounds that she is going to pursue the matter and so we go with what she wants. Yes, should there be anything to suggest that someone is trying to cause her harm or force her to do certain things she doesn't want to, let me remind the public that the criminal court does provide an offense for attempt to suppress a witness and so anyone who approaches a witness and try to convince or threaten or persuade that witness not to go to court, commits an offense. It's a matter for her to report, if she feels uncomfortable with anyone approaching her and asking her to suppress her evidence, then such person can be arrested by law."
Jules Vasquez
"Now sir in this case has there been any prior report made that perhaps no court actions was requested?"
Chester Williams
"I think that there was an incident that took place on Monday and an unofficial report was made and at that particular juncture the complainant has requested that she didn't want anything, just for future reference and when she gave her official report yesterday, she also encapsulate what took place on Monday, so she made her report yesterday in respect to what took place yesterday and what took place Monday."
Jules Vasquez
"Now we have received persistent reports of 2 things, that a hammer was involved in inflicting some type of harm and that she used the leader of the opposition personal vehicle to go and make the report because the tires on her vehicle had been slashed, are you able to comment on those?"
Chester Williams
"I'm not sure about the tire being slashed for any vehicle but yes, there is allegation that a hammer was used and she claimed that Mr. Faber had hit her on her hands with a hammer causing her pain and yes she did use his vehicle to go to the station to make a report and I guess that was the best available vehicle for her to have been able to escape and go to the police station."
Jules Vasquez
"Might he also face a charge for damage to property?"
Chester Williams
"Yes he will be facing charge for damage to property in respect to the laptop as well."
Jules Vasquez
"Has the extend of her injuries being classified in the report we received was that she went to a medical facility to seek care and then them who alerted the the DVU."
Chester Williams
"Yes sir it has been classified as harm. I think that she had some bruises on her face, I think she said it was from her pushing on a door and he was also pushing on a door and the door hit her on the face causing bruises."
We stress that description of injuries alone is as strong an indictment against any public figure as there can be.
But, politically, Faber is a fighter and he is not walking away from this one - none at all.
This evening at 5:30 - his camp came out with a three pronged rebuttal of the statement made by Dr Arnold - including two statements from her.
The first is the withdrawal of her statement addressed to the commissioner of police - co-signed by two attorneys, OJ Elrington and David Morales. As we noted at the top, it says that she quote "withdraws any and all charges levied against Patrick Faber as a result of my report and statement made on January 19, 2022."
But we spoke to the Commissioner after that was issued - and he maintained the she can tell it to the judge; he is still pushing through with charges.
The second prong of the Faber pushback was a statement Dr Arnold posted on her Facebook page.
She says, quote, "The following statement comes after a difficult few days.
While we had hoped that the matter recently making the rounds could have been avoided in the public domain, we realize regrettably that the interferences and insinuations deriving from the visit to the Queen Street police station yesterday Thursday, January 19th, 2022 have now caused the need for the situation to be publicly addressed.
Firstly, We begin by saying that the situation is a misunderstanding, one that really is a matter that we have been dealing with privately….While we can assure the public that the rumors are inaccurate, we are at this time unwilling to disclose further private information in an attempt to protect me from any further public scrutiny. I appreciate that Patrick's number one priority at this time is my well being and the well being of our entire family.
Furthermore, I would also like to express my dissatisfaction with the spread of rumors via social media and traditional media houses because it only served to make this situation that much more difficult to navigate. While I appreciate the support from many; in the future, it is my hope that our privacy is respected as we navigate our personal lives together and apart."
End quote.
The third front of the pushback is a Facebook post from Faber himself - which is similar to his fiance's. It says "While we had hoped that such a matter in the public domain could be avoided, we realize regrettably that the inferences and insinuations deriving from the visit to the Queen Street Police Station yesterday…have now made it necessary for the situation to be publicly addressed.
We begin by stating that the situation is a misunderstanding, one that really is a matter that we have been dealing with privately….While we can assure the public that the rumors are inaccurate, we are at this time unwilling to disclose further private information in order to protect my fiance from public scrutiny.
My number one priority at this time is my fiance's wellbeing and the wellbeing of my entire family." End quote.
So, there it is - and in time for the evening news - a full and forceful retraction. But, while the matter is a personal one for the couple, the public dimension cannot be ignored, and the court of public opinion doesn't forget so easily. The public image of the Leader of the Opposition tonight is badly, perhaps fatally damaged - because this is not his first or second domestic incident.
