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Kissoon “had a morbid obsession” to defame Jagdeo

Jan 28, 2012 News

 

– ex-president’s lawyer tells court

Newly appointed lead counsel in the Jagdeo libel suit, Bernard De Santos SC, described Kaieteur News Columnist Freddie Kissoon as someone who had a morbid obsession to defame former president Bharrat Jagdeo.
After a long adjournment the matter continued yesterday before Justice Brassington Reynolds.
The former president had sued Kissoon, along with Kaieteur News Editor Adam Harris and the newspaper’s publisher, Glen Lall, for $10M.  According to the statement of claim, the former head of state said that Kissoon’s article ‘King Kong sent his goons to disrupt the Conference’, libeled him further purporting that he was an  ideological racist.
The court was informed yesterday by De Santos that Dr Roger Luncheon, Head of the Presidential Secretariat, could not be present because he was required to participate in the swearing in of Regional Chairmen.  As the matter continued another witness, Raul Kissoon was identified and called to the witness box.
Raul Kissoon, who is employed at the Office of the President, told the court that he is employed as media officer. According to the witness he researches media, does media monitoring of all newspapers. After that the witness said that he would compile and archive the newspapers month by month. He was further questioned by De Santos, and revealed that he has held that position since June 2010.
The witness was asked if this activity goes back before 2010. According to Raul Kissoon, sometimes depending on the research matter, he would have to go back. He was then asked if he was familiar with the Kaieteur News, to which he answered in the positive. He also stated that the Kaieteur News has a wide circulation.
The witness was also asked if he knew whether Kaieteur News is circulated outside of Guyana, and he answered in the negative. De Santos then asked the witness if he was aware if the newspaper was accessible online. Attorney at Law Nigel Hughes, who is representing the columnist, objected on the basis that De Santos was leading the witness. De Santos then asked the witness whether he is aware if the stories can be found online. Hughes again objected and said that the witness was being led.
Moreover the witness was asked if he had brought copies of Kaieteur News with him to help with his testimony. The court was told that the witness had brought ten bonded copies of Kaieteur News dating from June 2010 to the present.
At this Hughes interjected and questioned De Santos about the relevance of this line of questioning. According to De Santos, the copies of the newspapers were not intended to prove the libel, which he says is contained in the Statement of Claim. However, he said that the relevance comes because of damages which the plaintiff intends to show. According to De Santos, Fredrick Kissoon, the defendant, had a morbid obsession to defame the former president.  De Santos further argued that the articles which he intends to show to the court would show that the columnist had a consistency of attacks which could demonstrate fixation even before and after the “King Kong” article was written.
However, Kissoon’s lawyer had a different take on what De Santos was saying. According to Hughes, “morbid obsession” has to precede the alleged libel rather than after the fact. The court was told that each and every action could have been cited for contempt of court. Hughes said that he did not see the relevance of this line of questioning.
Justice Reynolds interjected and like Hughes, said that he did not see the relevance. The judge has since given both sides Monday to properly detail their arguments. (By Latoya Giles)

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