Office of the President Press and Publicity Officer Kwame McCoy on Wednesday filed libel suits against three media houses seeking over $150M in damages and has secured an injunction restraining them from further publication of materials that suggest he is engaged in acts of child molestation.
McCoy alleges that Capitol News, Prime News and Kaieteur News “deliberately” published inaccurate information which suggests that he is involved in acts of sexual predation, procurement and child molestation. Attorneys-at-law Bibi Shadick and Sase Gunraj are representing McCoy.
A writ of summons and an ex-parte application for an interim injunction (by way of affidavit) were both filed in the courtroom of Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang on Wednesday.
The Chief Justice ordered that same day that an injunction be issued “restraining the defendants or its servants and/or agents from publishing or further publishing by any means words or images which have the effect of insinuating or suggesting that the plaintiff is involved in acts of child molestation and sexual predation on minors until the hearing and determination of a summons to continue injunction.”
The matter has since been adjourned to next Tuesday afternoon.
Primes News was served a copy of the summons yesterday afternoon and is being sued by McCoy for more than $50M. Nigel Hughes will be representing Prime News next Tuesday before Chief Justice Chang.
In a copy of the writ of claim against Prime News, damages in excess in $50M “for libel contained in the Monday, 21 September, 2009 edition of Prime News, a television newscast…caused to be aired and published…under the caption, “Media Liaison to the President Kwame McCoy has denied that he is the person on the recording, although the evidence which have been accumulated by this and other media practitioners conclude otherwise”.
The document also requested that the court order an injunction restraining the defendants from further publishing the above quoted words or similar words of and concerning McCoy.
Exemplary damages, costs and other payments seen fit by the court were also included in McCoy’s claim.
In the ex-parte application for the interim injunction, viewed by Stabroek News, McCoy contended that “the Defendants maliciously and deliberately published limited as well as inaccurate information which was intended to suggest on my part, acts of Sexual Predation, Procurement and Child Molestation.”
Prime News’ report, McCoy stated in the application, suggested that he was a child molester; procured or attempted to procure sexual favours from a minor. McCoy says that his “character an reputation both generally and as a Press and Publicity Officer attached to the Office of the President…and a member of the Commission on the Rights of the Child, in particular, have been seriously damaged and discredited.”
The document further said, “I [McCoy] have suffered, and continue to suffer, considerable distress, embarrassment and odium.”