Psychologist Leachim Semaj Concerned Some Jamaicans Treating Queen Ifrica’s Allegations As Sheer Entertainment

A renowned Jamaican psychologist has weighed in on the Queen Ifrica‘s accusations of rape against her father Derrick Morgan, expressing concern that such a sensitive and serious issue which is being aired out in public, is being treated by some Jamaicans as sheer entertainment.

While the majority of responses to Ifrica’s Instagram video have been empathetic, a disconcerting number of people have treated the serious allegations as fabrications, with some people even joking about the matter.

“Could some put Queen Ifrica in touch with me one-away?   Healing is best facilitated in private.   Some people are just treating this as entertainment,” Semaj, a regular commentator of matters affecting Dancehall, who has, in the recent past called for also called for mental health support groups for artists, noted on Queen Ifrica’s page on Monday.

Queen Ifrica’s Instagram post on Friday (August 25) was the third time that she shared intricate details of her alleged violations.  

In December 2021, she had given details on being raped by her now-deceased stepfather, during an interview on the Tamara McKayle Trailblazers show. At that time she said was the first time she was ever speaking publicly about the matter to a person who was not in her ‘inner circle’, but that the host’s countenance gave her the courage to do so.

She had said it was difficult for victims to speak out for fear of being judged, blamed and vilified.

“I know that’s something to be talked about you know because guess what, you see for a victim, it is so hard.  And that’s why I never like when people manipulate victimization because when you know what it feels like to experience some particular type of darkness and see people trivialize it and play around with it, it kills you all over again,” she had said.

“And that’s why I try not to skirt around with what it means to be a victim of any circumstance in your life because to overcome it is a process in itself to live with it,” she added.

In detailing the incident with her stepfather, whom she said was a respected Rastafarian, Ifrica said the relationship with him was an amiable one until her mother left her alone with him for an extended period spanning several days.

“Well as a young girl it was a complicated role because I had my ups and downs with my stepdad in terms of molestation.  I had an experience with him where that is concerned.  I don’t talk about it because I share a sister that happens to be his daughter.  And, I don’t want her to feel she has to walk with her head down…,” she had said.

“When he did it like the first time, my mom wasn’t around.  That was the first time she was leaving me around it you know and she had that trust in him yes, because she had a daughter with him as well that was there as well and she had never experienced that with him,” she explained.

She continued: “I think that’s when he took the opportunity to make his move on me, and it was the worst experience man.  It was like I was drugged for three days.  I can tell you that I was drugged for three days and I remember that when I like came to any realization was just maybe to pee or something like wow just to get up to do that but I was so altered that I knew that something was happening with me that wasn’t correct,” she said. 

Queen Ifrica had also explained how the misdeeds of her stepfather came to light.

“And I was afraid to tell my mother at the time because things wasn’t good with me and her because she had this anger towards my dad who wasn’t there for me and you know it was just so toxic.   And it went on for a little while until how it ended is that she caught him one day.   She caught him in the act and that is how it dawned on her that me acting out was not just me just being rebellious, but something really serious was happening there,” she added.

During the interview, Ifrica had said she was on a mission to get persons who were victims of molestation to, rise above the transgressions committed against them.

“Anyway but at the same time it happened when you live in a society where so many young girls and boys are affected by molestation and what it does to them it makes sense to speak up.  As someone who has experienced that and can say to somebody that yes, even though you have experiences, that has been the worst experience anyone could have, you can overcome it.   You don’t have to become a victim of your circumstance you can rise above that darkness and find your light.  And I love to tell people to concentrate and find in your light and when you’re in your darkness,” she said.

“I’m not there anymore so now it’s a memory but in the moment of it, I had to deal with the fact that my mom did not believe me.   That is one of the things that makes it suicidal in a sense, because now you’re feeling like you’re put amongst this person, to respect that person as a figure in your life as a like I said in the song ‘you’re supposed to be my father’ you know,” she said.

She also revealed then that she had also suffered sexual trauma at the hands of a biological family member, but had said she would not call names then, but might do so in the future.

“And that’s one you know.  I have some very more darker ones than that really a lot of darker ones than that I think that one is the experience that could have brought me to my lowest in my life that could have literally killed me.  A a lot of people saw me doing music and see me being this strong person what if they ever flipping knew what I was going through, fighting and making myself strong for you to understand that I can’t afford to fail…,” she said.

In May 2023, Ifrica shared that she was molested by an older girl at age 8.