Guyana’s Ambassador to Switzerland and former Government Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has been ordered by the Court to pay $5 million plus $250,000 in costs to veteran journalist, Enrico Woolford, after the Court found that he defamed Woolford in a Guyana Times column back in 2021.

In the ruling, High Court Judge Peter Hugh, dismissed Ramsammy’s contention of fair comment over a column he wrote in the Guyana Times newspaper accusing Woolford of being part of a plot to rig the 2020 elections.

The Judge in his ruling said having considered the article as a whole and applying the test of the ordinary reasonable reader, he finds that the words were plainly capable of bearing a defamatory meaning and did in fact convey that the claimant was involved in electoral fraud and the attempted subversion of Guyana’s democratic process.

“Such allegations strike at the claimant’s honesty, integrity and professional reputation and would undoubtedly lower him in the estimation of right-thinking members of society. I further find that the first-named defendant failed to establish his pleaded defences. The defence of fair comment cannot succeed because the statements complained of amounted to assertions of fact rather than comment, and there was insufficient factual foundation to support the serious allegation that the claimant was personally involved in rigging the elections. The defence of truth likewise fails, as the evidence did not establish the substantial truth of the defamatory sting of the publication. The defence of qualified privilege was not properly particularised and therefore cannot avail the first-named defendant”, the Judge ruled.

In addition to the $5 million judgment and the $250,000 in Court costs, Ramsammy has also been ordered by the Court to issue a public apology to Woolford in a prominent position and to also retract his defamatory statement. The apology and retraction must be issued within 21 days, the Court ruled.

The Court dismissed Woolford’s claim against the Guyana Times, which published the defamatory article, and Woolford will have to pay the Guyana Times $250,000 in costs.

Woolford was represented by Attorney Eusi Anderson.

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