On February 12th history was made in the Chief Justice's courtroom when the Leader of the Opposition cross examined the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister was testifying that the Reporter newspaper had libeled and defamed him and Barrow represented the paper's publisher, Harry Lawrence. Today, nearly 8 weeks later the Chief Justice announced his decision.
In a judgement that took a little over an hour to deliver, the Chief Justice found that the claims made in The Reporter editorial were unfounded and defamatory to the Prime Minister. The Reporter had implied that the Prime Minister had committed an illegal act because he was beholden to Michael Ashcroft, as a contributor to the PUP campaign.
The Chief Justice found that The Reporter had failed to prove that the claim it made was factual. And because of that Barrow's defense of fair comment, explained the Chief Justice, could not apply because fair comment can only be based on fact and none had been established. With that the Chief Justice declared that The Reporter must pay the Prime Minister damages of $25,000 plus ten thousand dollars cost.
In the context of previous awards that is considered quite sizeable, and publisher Lawrence was disappointed in the judgement while Musa's attorney his son Kareem felt his client was vindicated.
Harry Lawrence, Publisher - The Reporter
"I am of course very disappointed in the ruling of the court. I expected the Chief Justice to give more consideration to the constitutional aspect which I raised in my examination in chief which I believe provides a way for the Prime Minister to do these things not in an arbitrary way but in an orderly way consulting with the National Assembly. So I am disappointed in that sense. I also think that the penalty that he has imposed is very high in view of the smallness of our economy."
Jules Vasquez,
Sir $25,000, that's a lot of newspapers.
Harry Lawrence,
"That's right."
Jules Vasquez,
Will you be able to come up with it?
Harry Lawrence,
"It won't kill us I can assure you. It will hurt us but it won't kill us."
Kareem Musa, Attorney for Said Musa,
"Naturally I am very pleased with the judgment today. I believe it was very fair and balanced especially since the case was very one sided in my opinion.
As the Chief Justice rightly pointed out, not only was the defense lacking in several respects but if you recall from the testimony of Mr. Lawrence, he actually testified on our behalf saying he was aware of the facts but chose not to include it in his editorial. So it was a clear case and I think a clear case of irresponsible journalism in my opinion."
Jules Vasquez,
Is this a precedent that should serve to warn others that you cannot criticize the Prime Minister with impunity?
Kareem Musa,
"Well as the Chief Justice rightly pointed out, he was vindicated in this case. I think it was sort of a political maneuver to get him on the stand and everything but he was unshakeable as a witness and he stood strong and I believe that he is going to take a stance against all these distortions, distorted reports that are out there."
Tania Moody appeared for The Reporter's attorney Dean Barrow this morning. This award of $25,000 plus ten thousand dollars in court costs should nicely offset the recent award of $30,000 plus ten thousand dollars in court costs that the Prime Minister's paper, The Belize Times had to pay Lois Young Barrow in a judgement issued on February of 2007.
