ST. JOHN’S, Antigua--Master of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Fidela Corbin Lincoln, has ruled that statements made against Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne by the United Progressive Party (UPP) and its public relations officer, Senator Damani Tabor, and aired on Observer Radio, may be submitted to the Courts for defamation.
The Prime Minister is suing for defamation for statements made on Observer Radio on January 4, 2017. The statement of claim avers that, during a live broadcast, the Senator made libellous statements inferring criminal corruption, misfeasance in public office and a breach of fiduciary duties. These inferences, Browne claims, were by way of innuendo directed to the Prime Minister.
The filed documents state that “this claim concerns alleged defamatory statements made by the first defendant [Senator Damani Tabor – Ed.] on Observer Radio, which are alleged to have defamed the claimant.”
Lincoln stated in the ruling that “I bear in mind, however, that in considering what the words are capable of meaning, the Court is not determining what the words mean to the Court but rather what they could possibly convey to the ordinary person and that a lay person will read into words an implication more freely than a lawyer and may indulge in a certain amount of loose thinking. I also bear in mind that the Court should refrain from an over-elaborate analysis and that the pleaded defamatory meaning is treated as the most injurious meaning the words are capable of bearing. More importantly, the Court’s task at this stage is not to determine what the words actually mean but rather whether they are capable of the pleaded meanings ...”
With this, the Prime Minister and his legal team intend to move forward with his lawsuit for defamation.
Though the claim is being brought against both Tabor and Observer Radio, it was revealed that an indemnity agreement was made between Tabor and Observer Media Group, which some say, arguably, would safeguard Observer Radio from any liability resulting from his assertions on the radio.
In July 2017, the media group banned the UPP public relations officer until he furnished the company with a waiver and indemnity. ~ Caribbean News Now! ~
