Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley scored a win in the court yesterday after a defamation lawsuit brought against him by Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal went in his favor
Justice Carol Gobin made the ruling in a written judgment delivered yesterday.
The case stems from an article in the Express newspaper on January 6, 2020, under the headline “Rowley vs Waithe … Terse Text Exchange”. Express Editor-in-Chief Omatie Lyder was also listed as a defendant.
The newspaper had printed the following alleged exchange of text messages between Dr Rowley and Fixin T&T leader Kirk Waithe:
Waithe: “Politicians serve their party best when they put their country first” – Author unknown.
Rowley: What do you know about it? What sacrifice have you ever made for this country other than to be a damn hypocrite. You know so much about Camille and $148,000 but when it comes to the outright and humongous thievery of the many UNC operatives who are and were your paymasters yuh are deathly silent. What about the $120 million Eden Gardens and the questions that Moonilal and Jearlean have to answer?
Moonilal sued Rowley, arguing those quotes were defamatory.
Rowley and his attorneys, however, argued that the statements were not made specifically about Moonilal.
They also said the statements could not reasonably be understood as defamatory, especially when read individually or even as a combined text.
Justice Gobin agreed, saying the two sentences, when read individually, did not contain defamatory meanings and even when juxtaposed, would not harm Moonilal’s reputation.
The court also ruled that to say a minister under whose watch Eden Gardens fell has questions to answer is not defamatory and that the statements were part of a private and informal conversation rather than a formal public accusation and did not meet the threshold for defamation.
“‘Humongous thievery of UNC operatives’ standing on its own cannot be considered defamatory, even of the group of unidentified persons. In the circumstances, the omission to identify the Claimant as a member of the group may even be inconsequential,” Justice Gobin ruled.
Justice Gobin said: “Politicians would do well to recognise and accept that increasingly, the scales are tipping in favour of protecting the right to free political expression in a democracy, as Courts acknowledge the importance of political debate and its vital role in achieving transparency and accountability in the affairs of government and promoting the rule of law.”
Prime Minister Rowley subsequently posted the judgment on his Facebook page but didn’t comment directly on it.
Moonilal said he intends to appeal.
He said: “We have considered the judgment and we believe that the trial judge unfortunately erred in her interpretation of the Prime Minister’s words in relation to me. I believe that the Prime Minister uttered a horrible and unfounded defamatory statement in relation to me. I intend to fully defend myself against his actions and will be taking my attorney’s advice in relation to an appeal. This isn’t over yet.”