Turks & Caicos premier
Michael Misick

GRAND TURK, Turks & Caicos Islands: A confrontation on Thursday evening between the premier of the Turks & Caicos Islands, Michael Misick, and an opposition Member of Parliament, Arthur Robinson, reportedly led to Robinson being punched in the chest several times by Misick.

The incident apparently stems from an attempt by Robinson, along with Shaun Malcolm, national chairman of the People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) opposition party, to videotape Misick’s return to the country by private jet on Thursday evening at around 6:15 pm.

According to Robinson, the PDM opposition planned a press conference on Thursday night at which they accused Misick of being an “absentee premier”, given that he reportedly spends the bulk of his time in California, and elsewhere out of the country.
The opposition suspects that Misick got wind of this in California and hurriedly flew back to the country on Thursday evening so that he could assert that he had been in the country all the time and thus accuse the opposition of lying.

However, Robinson and Malcolm videotaped Misick’s arrival at the airport in order to provide evidence to the contrary but, after doing so, and when they were leaving the vicinity of the airport, they were accosted by Misick and his armed bodyguards, who reportedly confiscated the video camera belonging to Malcolm being used for this purpose.

Robinson claims that Misick himself reportedly punched him (Robinson) five or six times in the chest.

In separate interviews with Caribbean Net News, both Robinson and Malcolm confirmed the reports and added that, subsequent to the alleged assault on Robinson by Misick, the premier’s office attempted to persuade the local police not to accept complaints in the matter from the opposition politicians.

This has led to further claims of obstruction of justice by the opposition politicians, as the police force in the Turks and Caicos Islands, a British Overseas Territory, is under the control of the governor, not the elected government.

In a bizarre twist to the story, one of the members of Misick’s entourage allegedly involved in the fracas was American television actor Duane Martin, who appears in the sitcom “All of Us” with Misick’s wife, Hollywood actress Lisa-Raye McCoy.

According to Malcolm, Martin, a US citizen, was allowed to by-pass the customary immigration and customs procedures when entering the Turk & Caicos Islands on Thursday evening in company with Misick.

When contacted by Caribbean Net News, a spokesperson for the Turks & Caicos police confirmed that they have received a report of the incident in question and an investigation is currently underway.

Attempts to reach the offices of the governor and the premier were unsuccessful at the time of writing.