<<< Pleasent Bridgwater.
Nassau, Bahamas: Former MP for Marco City and Senator for the opposition Progressive Liberal Party has tendered her resignation from the upper house of Parlaiment today, as she fight charges levied against her in the case of the Travoltas.
If Obie Wilchcombe was to be also charged in this incident, will he also resign and force a bye-election?
Ms. Bridgewater released this short statement to members of the press. The following is the full text of her statement.
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Pleasant Bridgewater… On Charges Levelled
Saturday 24th January, 2009
Yesterday, 23rd January is a day that will live in my memory as a nightmare. In my capacity as a lawyer, I acted within the bounds of the law and within the bounds of my ethical responsibility to my profession. How these innocent actions can be so misconstrued, so perversely twisted to mean something other than it was, is a mystery.
I assure the Bahamian people of my complete and total innocence and I am satisfied that when the full story comes out that I shall be fully vindicated. I will then take all appropriate and lawful actions for redress and to protect my good name.
I have spoken to the leader of our Party the Rt. Honourable Perry Christie. I have told him that while I am completely innocent, that I believe that while I fight these untrue and unfair charges that I should not put the Party through this ordeal. I have thereby indicated that I will resign from the Senate with immediate effect so that I can devote my full energies to the legal battle which now faces me.
I want to thank the Leader for his confidence in me and for allowing me the privilege of serving the country and the PLP. I want to thank the wonderful people of the Marco City Constituency for all their love, encouragement, prayers and support. I thank all people of goodwill who have sent words of encouragement. I thank my family and my counsel for all of their assistance. I am unbowed and I fully intend to fight so that I shall be vindicated. Please continue to pray for me.
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We havent heard anything from Bridgewater or her lawyers. I dont think its fear for us to assume or give judgement until the whole story is out in the open. However, you will be suprise to see who comes out of this as the ugly duckling. Pleasant professes to be a woman of God, if she is, Joy will come in the morning. If she isnt, then like the hypocrites, they shall fall…
IF these claims are true, Pleasant has a much bigger problem to deal with now in addition to the old problems she already had. All this did was add problems on top of problems. I always knew there were heartless people in government, but I never imagined we had persons that who would stoop so low as to blackmail someone who they knew were grieving over the lost of a family member. IF this is true they have taken low to a new level and I am glad that the Travolta family refused to be blackmail and exposed these culprits. This is a lesson to all of us, never allow anyone to blackmail you. If you do that person will use what they have on you repeatedly, it’s best to come clean one time.
Sometimes when persons are under stress because they are in financial difficulties, they let their good common sense fly out the window. The Marco City election court case was quite costly. Spending the time in court meant she could not pay the amount of attention she needed for her law pratice. She had a $200,00.00 problem with one of her clients. And who knows what else was on her plate. Nevertheless she is responsible for her own actions. If the ambulance driver was her client, as alleged, her advice should have been that he should destroy the pictures and the negatives forthwith.E-mailing them straight to the media would bring about another illegal act. If it is true that O.W. put her in touch with the Travoltas’ lawyer, then he is complicit in the whole scheme. Many politicians hold themselves to be above the Law and it is time that an example is made as we have endured enough of this kind of nonsense.
This right here along with the Kentatta saga will be the Genesis for a revolution within the PLP. New leadership will emerge from the 50 and under generation revitalizing the PLP and producing the type of leaders the public is looking for. I plan to be a part of this movement.
Man oh Man !! I hate to condemn this lady before she is tried for this alleged crime, however, if she is guilty this is clearly the most STUPID act any seemingly intelligent person could have ever committed.
She should have “asked somebody” before doing foolishness, if she is guilty. Had I been in her shoes and come across someone with photos of that nature, I would have gone into the food store, purchased the National Enquirer and The Star and come home in my office email or call those publications and sold the pictures to them. Easy ! No extortion involved.
My fellow Bahamians, this to will pass. We just have to be strong as a nation and rely on God to bring us through another major embarrassment. You know when our country was dealing with the Anna Nicole and her son saga, I thought we would of never live that one down, but as time went on we were able to get through it. Now here we are once again, dealing with John Travolta and his son saga. When I heard that boy died over here, I prayed for the people who were handling the situation to be very professional and not get themselves or the country in any trouble. I don’t know what is wrong with some of our people; they would sell their souls to the devil for money. When I heard Obie talking on Larry King, even though he sounded very intelligent, I still had a funny feeling about it. He sounded like he was using that occasion as an opportunity to promote our country, I just did not feel like that was the right time to do so. Then when I saw that ambulance driver on Inside Edition doing an interview, I nearly screamed. Something told me there would be trouble in the days ahead for us. I could see Obie and the ambulance driver, but how in the world Pleasant got mixed up with this? In my mind I always had the most respect for her. I never dreamt in a million years her name would be associated with something of this nature. All I can say is, one day we will become so immune to our greedy politicians mixing up with these celebrities and their children and finding themselves in hot water and then it wouldn’t even bother us anymore.
SCANDAL OF PLPS SWIRL AROUND THE WORLD!
Bahamas probes alleged plot to extort Travolta
By Associated PressJanuary 23, 2009 9:25 PM PST
NASSAU, Bahamas – Authorities in the Bahamas have charged an island lawmaker and detained two other people in an alleged plot to extort money from actor John Travolta after the death of his son, police said Friday.
Two of the suspects ? ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne and former tourism minister Obie Wilchcombe ? were detained on Friday. Earlier, several tabloids quoted Lightbourne describing efforts to revive the celebrity’s chronically ill son, Jett, who died of a seizure this month at their family vacation home on Grand Bahama.
Sen. Pleasant Bridgewater, an attorney from Grand Bahama, was arrested on Thursday. She was charged with abetment to extort and conspiracy to extort and released Friday on $40,000 bail, according to Assistant Superintendent of Police Loretta Mackey.
Authorities said Travolta filed a complaint of attempted extortion but they did not reveal what the allegations involved. The actor and his wife Kelly Preston returned home to Florida with the ashes of their 16-year-old son, and Travolta’s publicist Paul Bloch said Friday that he has no comment.
Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police Marvin Dames said Lightbourne ? the ambulance driver ? was detained after police issued an alert that he was wanted for attempted extortion, was “considered dangerous and should be approached with caution.”
Lightbourne remained in police custody late Friday and was assisting police, according to a police statement.
Wilchcombe ? a member of the Bahamas parliament and an ex-tourism minister ? was arrested Friday in connection with the complaint, questioned by police and released “pending further investigations,” Mackey said.
Wilchcombe has described himself as a friend of Travolta who was with the actor shortly after his son died.
News Statement by
Rt. Hon. Perry Christie MP
… On Senator Pleasant Bridgewater
24th January, 2009
For Immediate Release
I have been advised by Senator Pleasant Bridgewater today that she has tendered her resignation to the President of the Senate with immediate effect so as to fully dedicate her resources and energies to fight the charges brought against her. She has assured me of her innocence.
I deeply regret this turn of events, having regard to the yeoman service Senator Bridgewater has given to our party and to our country.
I understand the course of action that she has decided to take and I believe that this is the right and appropriate thing to do in these most unfortunate circumstances.
I thank Senator Bridgewater for her service to the Progressive Liberal Party and to our country.
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