The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

FNM DEPUTY leader Loretta Butler-Turner said she has no regrets after slapping PLP MP Dr Andre Rollins in the House of Assembly yesterday. 

Insisting that she does not condone any type of physical assault, Mrs Butler-Turner said she felt compelled to physically defend herself because Mr Rollins did not respond to verbal requests to remove his arm from around her.

“The purpose for his arm around me,” she said, “was not an embrace, it was a dominating hold for me to hear what he had to say. I could not remove him so I had to slap him.

“How can I regret trying to protect myself? I ignored that man for a very long time and I will continue to ignore him. I don’t think I should stand for that but I don’t look to do anything like that again.

“He whispered to me lewd, obscene and inappropriate remarks. I repeatedly asked him to remove his arm.  He refused to do so.”

The Tribune understands that Mrs Butler-Turner and FNM leader Dr Hubert Minnis met with House Speaker Dr Kendal Major to address the matter. Up to press time, no formal complaints on the part of either Mr Rollins or Mrs Butler-Turner had been lodged with authorities.

Speaking with The Tribune following the incident Dr Rollins maintained that he did not  make any “inappropriate comments” to the FNM deputy leader.

“I told her it was in poor taste what she had done (accusing Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin for being responsible for the deaths of two children at the Willamae Pratt Centre).

“I told her it was in poor taste and that she needs to seek help. In fact I said she needs to seek psychiatric evaluation. Because the kind of slanderous things she says about people, any sane person in good conscience would not say. She said to me some things that were very nasty that I won’t repeat so I put my arm around her and said ‘you really need help’ and she slapped me.

“I kept my composure because I definitely do not believe in hitting women and I never have. She acted in a fashion that is consistent with her belligerent nature so I wasn’t surprised. I did not show any anger towards her and there was no suggestion on my part that I was going to physically harm her.

“I had my arm around her so I don’t know if she took offence to that. I have not lodged any formal complaint. I am not interested in causing any further embarrassment to her. But since she raised this in the press I don’t want her to suggest that I was showing any aggression to her. She is trying to put her PR spin on it but there is no way for anyone to corroborate what she did I am certain she regrets it. For my position I hope all men will handle it the way I did by walking away. I do not believe that men should be violent towards women and that is one good thing we can take away from this is that lesson.

The perception is that I may have said something about her person. At no point did I do that.

The altercation followed a heated Parliamentary sitting when MP V Alfred Gray had accused Mrs Butler-Turner of being “embarrassed” because Social Services Minister Melanie Griffin had been forced to make a number of upgrades to the Simpson Penn Centre for Boys – the centre had previously been Mrs Butler-Turner’s responsibility. Mrs Butler-Turner further questioned the number of suicides at the facility since the PLP took office.

At that point the FNM Deputy could be heard suggesting to Dr Rollins that the PLP would not be running him as a candidate in 2017. She alleged particular reasons why. Dr Rollins is the PLP candidate for Fort Charlotte.