KINGSTON, Jamaica — A case from the early 1980s has re-emerged with startling force as a 75-year-old man now faces serious allegations tied to sexual abuse said to have occurred more than four decades ago.
Frederick Watson, a resident of Trinity district in Porus, Manchester, has been formally charged with three counts of rape after a woman came forward in January 2025, alleging he assaulted her repeatedly between 1980 and 1982 in the rural community of Retirement, St Elizabeth.
According to law enforcement officials, the complainant and Watson once shared a household. Her long-held silence, police say, was broken earlier this year when she filed a formal report, triggering a full-scale investigation by the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA).
Watson was detained and questioned in the presence of legal counsel before being charged on Monday, April 28. Authorities say a court date is being finalized.
This development adds to a growing list of historic abuse cases now surfacing as victims seek justice — regardless of how much time has passed.
