On Tuesday 23rd May, 2023, at around 4:40pm Mr. Leon Lake was arrested by an officer of the Royal Anguilla Police Force at his place of residence in Blowing Point, Anguilla.
The arrest was made following a report by the husband of Minister, Mrs. Quincia Gumbs-Marie to the Royal Anguilla Police Force of a disturbance at the renowned establishment, Tasty’s Restaurant.
Mr. Lake was afforded his right to legal counsel shortly after his detention at Police Headquarters, and with his approval, video footage reasonably believed to be from the scene of the incident, and recorded by a person present during the incident, was shared with the police. Mr. Lake was subsequently discharged from police custody “pending further investigation”.
To date, there has been no other arrest made in the matter.
On Wednesday 24th May, 2023 a Press Release was issued by Mrs. Gumbs-Marie about the said incident.
In it, Mrs. Gumbs-Marie alleged that she and fellow Ministers were ‘attacked’ by Mr. Lake while having lunch. Mr. Lake denies that he attacked Mrs. Gumbs-Marie or any Minister as alleged or at all. He further says that neither Mrs. Gumbs-Marie nor any other Minister was ‘having lunch’ at the material time. Mr. Lake rejects as materially untrue the allegations that he made threats to the life of Mrs. Gumbs-Marie or any other Minister as alleged or at all.
Mr. Lake recalls that it was he who was verbally and repeatedly threatened by Mrs. Gumbs-Marie while engaged in a conversation with Mr. Haydn Hughes, a ministerial colleague of Mrs. Gumbs-Marie. Mrs. Gumbs-Marie interjected into that discussion and thereafter threatened to “bury” Mr. Lake “today”, accompanied by expletives. In fact, Mr. Lake recalls Mrs. Gumbs-Marie specifically threatening multiple times, that she would “kill” him “today”, while also using expletives.
In the height of receiving a number of these verbal threats from Mrs. Gumbs-Marie, Mr. Lake recounts that Mrs. Gumbs-Marie stood up and changed her location, armed herself with a tall chair and walked to the landing near the top of the steps as he stood below; daring him to speak about her father.
Mr. Lake walked back up the steps at a controlled pace and stepped onto the landing unarmed, intent on maintaining his physical distance so as not to invade the Minister’s personal space, or intimidate, or appear physically threatening. In the midst of his measured approach, he was struck forcibly with the tall chair when Mrs. Gumbs-Marie pushed it outward, extending it into the upper torso of Mr. Lake.
Mr. Lake was later seen and treated at the Princess Alexandra Hospital last evening. It was discovered by medical personnel that he suffered significant injury to his left fifth finger which is now immobilised and splinted, as well as soreness to the touch around the left portion of his forehead and his left forearm. The full extent of the injury to Mr. Lake’s left finger is still under medical investigation.
Mr. Lake reserves further comment at this time and will entrust the Royal Anguilla Police Force with the responsibility of conducting a fair and impartial investigation into the incident that occurred.
It is expected that the Laws of Anguilla, and the powers of officers of the Royal Anguilla Police Force will be applied transparently and equally within our society, irrespective of social, economic or political standing.
