EMBATTLED ABACO MP SAYS EVIDENCE WILL SHOW HE “WAS MANIPULATED AND EXPLOITED FOR POLITICAL REASONS “
Kirk Cornish issued a statement late Tuesday evening as he prepares to be charged in the Magistrates Court on Wednesday 9th August 2023 for sexual assault and threats of death on a woman he once enjoyed a relationship with.
“I am fully confident that the facts which emerge during the judicial process will prove my innocence,” Cornish said.
“I look forward to ending this nightmare. The facts will show that this was a break up that was manipulated and exploited for political reasons – and nothing more” the trade unionist turned politician said.
Cornish defeated the FNM Incumbent Darren Henfield, former Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Free National Movement Government to win the Abaco seat in the September 2021 snap general election.
Cornish becomes the first public figure to face such charges in the aftermath of the passing of the Protection against Violence Bills in Parliament last week.
Under the new law such victims or complaints of sexual abuse are entitled to a wide bill of rights including anonymity, compassion, decency and sheltered protection.
Prime Minister Davis in accepting Cornish’s resignation as Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister expressed sympathy for all sides hurting over the alleged incident.
Cornish will hold onto his seat in the lower elected House of Assembly as his trial progresses.
He joins Adrian Gibson, another sitting Member of Parliament; who is on criminal trial in the Supreme Court for abuse of funds of the Water and Sewerage Corporation, where Gibson, the FNM representative for Long Island was the serving Chairman in the previous Free National Movement Government.
Mr. Gibson continues to hold his parliamentary seat and is expressing his innocence as his trial bares out.
Another former FNM Member of Parliament and Minister of Youth in the FNM previous administration Mrs. Lanisha Rolle and her husband have also been charged and will be on trial next year for mishandling of funds in her former Ministry.
None of these three cases are connected.
Bahamian law does not require an elected Parliamentarian to resign or to be recalled because of a criminal charge in the courts.
In 2019 the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest, who was also serving as Deputy Leader of the governing FNM quit his Cabinet portfolio when a civil action in the courts was launched against him accusing him of a litany of issues by his former business partners’ in a commercial airline enterprise.
Turnquest was dumped by the FNM as a Candidate in the September 2021 general election and did not re-contest for Deputy Leader at the party’s national convention following their humiliating defeat in the snap general election.
Only two former Members of Parliament have been convicted of criminal offences and sent to jail since Independence in 1973. Dr. Curtis McMillan, a Cabinet Minister in the PLP Majority Rule 1967 Government who left the party to become a founding Member of the Free National Movement in 1971 was jailed for possession of drugs with intent to supply. Dr McMillan was not a Member of the House when he was convicted.
Mr. Wilbert Moss, a Parliamentary Secretary in the PLP Government in 1986 was convicted of attempting to bribe a Magistrate over a drug case involving one of his constituents. He resigned his seat upon his conviction and resigned his Parliamentary Secretary post before he was charged in the courts.