Controversial Cayman Islands legislator and former premier charged with rape and indecent assault

Authorities in the Cayman Islands say a controversial legislator and former premier has been charged with rape and indecent assault

Cayman Islands Politician Charged (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

A controversial legislator and former premier of the Cayman Islands was charged Wednesday with rape and indecent assault, according to authorities.

McKeeva Bush pleaded not guilty to charges that police said stem from an incident in 2000. Police issued no other comment aside from a brief press release noting that the “senior politician” appeared in court via Zoom.

Bush told The Associated Press in a statement that he rejected, denied and pleaded not guilty to what he called “this evil plot” and “malicious accusation.”

“All I have to say in relation to this, the latest in the series of malicious charges against me is the “Truth will come out,” he wrote. “This is done by someone I have never had any contact with.”

The arrest was the former premier’s most recent brush with the law.

Bush was investigated and found not guilty nearly a decade ago on charges including theft and abuse of office. He also pleaded not guilty to groping a female employee at a casino in Florida in 2017, and the charges were later dropped.

Bush pleaded not guilty after being charged with indecently assaulting two women last year at a regional tourism event held in the Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory in the western Caribbean Sea. He is awaiting trial in that case.

Bush stepped down as premier in December 2012 after facing a no-confidence vote. He resigned as speaker of Parliament in October 2022 following accusations of sexual harassment, which he denied.