Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 25, 2017 (SKNIS): Clement “Juni” Liburd, Owner of Freedom FM Radio, has retracted two defamatory publications about Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris dated January 16 and 20, and issued an apology after lawyers wrote to him about the grievous injury that said publications are calculated to cause.
The two news items “have published to a wide international audience of listeners and readers a gross and malicious defamation of, and concerning Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris in his capacities, not only as the Leader of the PLP but also as Prime Minister of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis,” the prime minister’s lawyers said.
Dr. Harris’ lawyers further indicated that the publications “are calculated to bring Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris into hatred, ridicule and contempt as an elected member of the National Assembly for Electoral District St. Christopher 7.
The publications “propagate a most dastardly and unbridled fabrication…with admittedly no evidence to back up your wild and reckless accusations of impropriety, which my client denounces emphatically as totally false and unfounded,” the lawyers said.
Mr. Liburd was demanded “to cease and desist forthwith from further propagation of these malicious defamations” and to remove them as posts on his website and to ensure that they are not repeated as news items or as any other publication by his radio station.
Mr. Liburd has complied with the legal advice to avoid the immediate institution of legal proceedings against him for the recovery of aggravated damages for defamation.
Freedom FM Radio has since aired two news items which were posted on its website. The news items state that the two “publications gave the false and misleading impression” of Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris, Prime Minister of the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, Leader of the People’s Labour Party (PLP) and elected member of the National Assembly for Electoral District St. Christopher 7.
“We have, however, subsequently ascertained and now recognize that there was no foundation to the allegations contained in the said news items and website posts and we regret that they were made,” stated Freedom FM Radio.
“We are happy to take the earliest opportunity of correcting our error and of expressing to Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris our regret for any distress or embarrassment caused to him by the publication of the erroneous news items,” it further stated.
