"Outside woman" Nelson confronts Manning

Angela Nelson is the woman Prime Minister Patrick Manning talked about recently at a news conference when he defended his CARICOM colleague, Ralph Gonzales, in connection with allegations of rape.

Manning said Gonzalves was a victim and reminded the media of accusations levelled against him in 2002 about fathering a child with an outside woman.

Nelson had written to the newspapers in Trinidad and Tobago ahead of the election, giving details of an affair she claims she had with Manning. She said she had a child for Manning as a result of that affair.

One Trinidad and Tobago weekly newspaper had graphic details of the alleged affair in an exclusive article by the late Ramjohn Ali, with a picture Nelson's little daughter. She claimed the child's father was Patrick Manning.


Manning ignored the matter until Nelson showed up in Trinidad the week of the election. Nelson was determined to tell her story in person. But Manning responded with threats to take legal action. Just before a scheduled news conference his attorney served Nelson with legal documents outlining Manning's threat to sue her if she proceeded with the media conference.

Nelson ignored the threat and spoke with the media. In the end, the story did not affect Manning's electoral chances; he won the election with 20 seats with the opposition UNC getting the other 16.

Now Nelson has surfaced again and is challenging Manning to carry out his threat and take her to court because she wants the whole story to come out.

In a letter to the media she reminds Manning of the letter from his attorney, Michael Quamina. "Dear Mr Manning", Nelson writes, "May I remind you of the hand-delivered letter from your Attorney Michael Quamina to be on October 6. 2002?"

Here's the letter from Nelson:

"Kindly allow me to respond to Mr Manning’s comment in regards the allegations made by me on October 6, 2002. In Mr Manning’s defence of Mr Gonsalves on rape allegations, he made reference to me, and he also challenged the Media to do a follow up. "It is only fair I be given the opportunity to do so, and to do so publicly. "Dear Mr Manning, May I remind you of the hand delivered letter from your Attorney Michael Quamina to me on October 6, 2002?

"I quote: 'My client (Patrick Mervyn Augustus Manning) is convinced that given the timing of this press conference, your actions are either politically instigated or motivated or it is your intention to cause the maximum amount of damage to my client’s reputation and injury to the feelings of my client’s family. Please be advised that should you carry out your intentions, my client will immediately take all legal recourse available to him to defend his reputation including an application for an injunction and damages.'

"In spite of your threat, I followed through on my intentions and I dared you to bring it on. Why didn’t you pursue legal actions to bring the truth to light? "Please explain that to the population before mentioning in an attempt to defend a man accused of rape or asking the Media to do a follow up on me."

ANGELA NELSON