Gonsalves family receives letter demanding money

The fashion model, who was last week remanded for psychiatric evaluation, has allegedly demanded thousands of dollars from the family of Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves, in a letter.

One copy of the letter was hand delivered last Thursday to Karen Duncan-Gonsalves, daughter-in-law of the Prime Minister, and another copy to the office of the Prime Minister at Bay Street, Kingstown.

The letter received by Duncan-Gonsalves, who is the wife of Minister of Finance Camillo Gonsalves, was dropped off by fashion model Yugge Farrell at the Attorney-General’s Chambers in the Methodist Church building at Granby Street, Kingstown, where Duncan-Gonsalves, a lawyer, is employed.

The letter, a copy of which SEARCHLIGHT has seen, contains the word “blackmail”. 

Police allege that Farrell, while at the Attorney-General’s Chambers, did cause a breach of peace by using abusive language to Duncan-Gonsalves, which was “You dirty b**ch.”

Farrell, 22, was charged with the offence, and when she appeared before magistrate Bertie Pompey at the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court last Friday, she pleaded not guilty. She was ordered by the court to the Mental Health and Rehabilitation Centre (MHC) for two weeks’ observation and will return to the Kingstown Magistrate’s Court on January 22, following evaluation.

Hours after being ordered to the MHC, 22 videos featuring Farrell were posted in less than one hour to an Instagram account with the handle ‘iamjahdatta’. The ‘iamjahdatta’ account was created by someone using the name Jahdatta Farrell. 

In the videos, Farrell made several allegations and references to an intimate relationship with Camillo Gonsalves which she stated ended in 2016.

The postings, however, stopped on Friday evening, but on Sunday, a post was made to the account by someone who described himself or herself as Farrell’s social media manager.

“Jahdatta wants everyone to know that she is coping well, she is not allowed to have her phone while at the MCH so her Instagram account is being run by her social media manager until she is released from the Mental Health Center in two weeks time. She also wants persons to know that this is not about politics, this is about the injustice that she is facing. People might think that Jahdatta just wants to exploit these people, however, if they did not try to institutionalize Jahdatta, she would’ve never made the videos, right now Jahdatta dey in Ah d Gideon ah hold she composure, She naah go Run, Jahdatta is a soldier…”

SEARCHLIGHT has also seen dozens of emails dated between December 27, 2016 and February 10, 2017, allegedly sent from Farrell’s email account to Camillo Gonsalves. The email messages, several of which threaten the life of different people, including Camillo’s seven-year-old daughter, were reportedly handed over to the police in February, 2017.

We have also seen copies of several pages of handwritten notes, allegedly written by Farrell, which also make reference to several members of the Gonsalves family.

Last August, police told SEARCHLIGHT that Farrell was a person of interest in an investigation being carried out by them into the use of the ‘iamjahdatta’ Instagram account.

Posts made from the account contained defamatory allegations about several government officials, public figures and members of the public.

Among those mentioned in the posts were Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and his adult children Camillo and Isis. A former police commissioner, a member of staff of the Ministry of Agriculture, a female teacher at the St Vincent Grammar School, as well as prominent lawyers were also mentioned in a derogatory manner.(Please also see Front Page)