Dr Love claims childhood sexual abuse

Dr Love has alleged that he was sexually abused by a woman he knew when he was a child.

He said he remembered one day he was helping her to clean her house when she called him. "Mi notice the door open, but the room is very dark. Mi go and say 'Yes?' and she seh, 'Mi waan you come play with mi p** **m'," he said. Dr Love said he had never engaged in any sexual activity until then, and that the woman gave him directives to touch her vagina and perform oral sex. He said she told him to climb on top of her, and showed him how to insert his penis.

Dr Love said that the woman encouraged him to keep the assault a secret, and even offered him food and other things to remain quiet.

"My family is very poor. I remember we never used to have shoes and those things," he said, while adding that he did not want to lose certain privileges to which he had become accustomed.

He said he confided in a woman about what was taking place. She shared it with a friend, who eventually told his mother. But he said at the time she did not believe him.

The entertainer said that the sexual abuse continued until he was 18, and that it only ended when he migrated to the US to live with extended family. That's when he shared his experience with his mother.

He ultimately buried himself in construction, music and blogging as a way to cope with the childhood trauma, but said rape victims never receive true closure.

Under Jamaica's Sexual Offences Act, an adult in authority who has sexual intercourse with another person who is under the age of 16, can be imprisoned for life if convicted in a Circuit Court.

Persons convicted of incest, rape, marital rape, sexual touching or interference, sexual grooming of a child, sexual intercourse with a person under 16 years old, grievous sexual assault, and indecent assault are registered as sex offenders. However, this registry, which consists of more than 330 persons, is not available to members of the public as access is restricted to specified groups such as the police. Dr Love wants the registry to be more accessible and transparent to greater protect the public.

"They should make it open and comfortable that somebody can openly say that they were raped and there's truth to it and it's there that people know," he said.