Of course, the public figure being maligned by the allegation is Julius Espat, the Cayo South Representative who is also the Minister of Infrastructure Development and Housing.
This evening, we reached out to Espat for comment, and in a telephone interview, he said that the officer is telling lies about him:
Hon. Julius Espat - Minister of Infrastructure Development & Housing
"The only thing I could say, my brother, is when you start a lie, you have to continue lying. I was surprised today when I saw a letter written by her attorney and to the Commissioner of Police. It was sent to me by various media houses. In that letter, she alleges that I verbally and physically abused her. But you have to go back to what happened when she was doing a live broadcast of the event, which was supposedly seconds after we had our conversation. And in that live, if you go through it step by step, there is absolutely no mention of any physical abuse. And so, all of a sudden now, a physical abuse allegation comes up. This is not something that was held behind closed doors. This was something that was held in front of hundreds of people. There were police officers out there. Everything is there. So, I am now forced to have my attorney deal with the situation and I will. I will take it all the way because they have now gotten to the point of defaming my character And that is important. But let me explain how I started from the beginning. We were out there. There are two tents out there, as you're aware of how politics happens. You had the UDP tent, which she was under, and you had the PUP tent where we were. A supporter of ours came up and took a picture of her, and I was beside him. She saw him and took a picture of her. She walked up to us and aggressed us and said, 'Why are you taking a picture of me?' And a conversation started. It was seconds, and then, it ended. Then all of a sudden, this thing [got] blown out of proportion, with so many cameras out there, so many people there. Every single movement that is made, if it was such, an issue would have been caught on camera. It's not like you have to go by a large Panasonic camera, these days. Every phone has a camera on it. And so, she did not - when she made her statement to the police is recorded, she did not say it was physical abuse. Now, today, her attorney is saying it's physical abuse. And so we will have to deal with it from that point of view."
Espat also told us that he has to take action to defend his public reputation. Here's that part of our conversation:
Hon. Julius Espat - Minister of Infrastructure Development & Housing
"My brother, there is no record of me ever abusing anybody, not even my pussy cat, who is around the yard, or my dog. There's no record of me being an abuser. There is a record of me being a strong politician and one that defends the issues of his people vehemently in the House. That's a fact, but nobody, in the history of my 52 years living on this earth, is there any allegation that I am an abuser. It seems that we won't be able to enjoy politics as we once did. The UDP is not accustomed to losing battle on the ground. And this is a reaction."
Late this evening, we saw a letter sent by attorney Andrew Marshalleck on behalf of Espat, who demands that both Constable Alicia Trapp and Elrington as her attorney, must retract their allegations against him.
That letter says, "We are instructed that... you caused to be published through your attorney… to the Commissioner of Police and to the Attorney General of Belize.. 'Our client PC Alicia Trapp… was verbally assaulted and physically attacked by... Julius Espat.'
This statement is patently false and constitutes a grave libel upon our client… We are to require that you forthwith apologize for the libelous statement.. and demand that you direct the publication of a further statement retracting the false statement made on your behalf. We are to make clear that should you choose to ignore our client's request... our client reserves the right to bring legal action for any damages [he] suffers... plus interest and all legal costs incurred..." End quote.
