NASSAU- A judge has awarded $767,000 in damages to a man acquitted of rape.
Rod Andrew Bethel lost a job paying $75,000 per year and his family and friends shunned him after he was charged with the rape of a woman in 2009.
Bethel went to a party which the alleged victim attended during the evening of November 14, 2009 until the early morning of November 15.
The woman accompanied Bethel and Sean Gibson, a police sergeant, to buy more cranberry juice after the bar ran out of it. She alleged that Bethel stopped his car a short distance from the party’s venue and Gibson raped her on the hood of his car.
Bethel denied the rape occurred. He said the woman passed out in his car as a result of marijuana and alcohol consumption. According to Bethel, the woman soiled herself and he and Gibson “assisted her.”
The case remained over Bethel’s head until March 6, 2017 when Justice Gregory Hilton directed a jury to acquit him and Gibson at the close of the prosecution’s case. The Crown, however, did not appeal the judge’s decision to withdraw the case from the jury.
Alleged victim’s family “had influence”
Four months after his acquittal, Bethel sued the Commissioner of Police for unlawful arrest and false imprisonment and the Attorney General for malicious prosecution.
Bethel also sought damages for a breach of his constitutional right to be tried within a reasonable time.
In his lawsuit, Bethel said a team of officers descended on his home at 5am on November 15, 2009 before the alleged victim made a complaint. Instead, the officers acted on a complaint from the woman’s mother, who was not present at the time of the alleged offence.
Bethel claimed that the woman’s family “had influence over senior members” of the Royal Bahamas Police Force.
Bethel said six uniformed officers searched his home, but about 20 more officers remained outside in two vans, dressed in combat gear and armed with high-powered weapons.
The officers also impounded his car for evidence.
Investigator didn’t recommended charge
However, the alleged victim did not make a complaint to police until hours after his arrest. Although the woman did not name him as her rapist, Bethel said police detained him for 72 hours.
The investigating officer, ASP Hamilton-Sands, testified that she did not “believe that [Bethel] had sexual intercourse with the virtual complainant.” She added that she never recommended that he be charged. Additionally, she said she did not know who caused him to be charged.
Justice Diane Stewart awarded Bethel damages for loss of income, harm to his reputation, legal fees and the loss of opportunity to sell a property held as a security for his bail.
Tanya Wright represented Bethel. Kirkland Mackey and Lukella Lindor appeared for the defendants.
