KINGSTON, Jamaica, CMC—Opposition Leader Mark Golding announced the gravity of the situation on Thursday, stating that he has instructed his lawyers to proceed with a lawsuit of significant magnitude against the Deputy Speaker, Heroy Clarke, over a statement he allegedly made on social media regarding Golding’s relationship with his wife, Sandra.
“My lawyers have been instructed to proceed with filing suit against Heroy Clarke for defamation. Justice will be done,” Golding wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
The comments were allegedly made on June 6, and according to Golding’s attorney, they “comprised utterly false statements as to the age of Golding’s wife and the origin of their relationship.
“Your statements have disparaged Mr Golding in his character and reputation as leader of the Opposition, a former minister in the Government of Jamaica, an attorney-at-law, investment banker, and as a businessman, and have severely injured and damaged him in his credit and business, and have brought him into public scandal, odium, and contempt, thereby causing considerable distress and embarrassment to him,” according to the letter from the law firm, Hart Muirhead Fatta.
In the June 7 letter to Clarke, in which several demands were to have been met by Monday, Clarke was called upon to confirm in writing that he undertakes not to publish or cause to be published any defamatory statement, express or implied, in any way concerning Golding.
The Deputy Speaker, the parliamentary representative for St James Central, has also been told that he should enter into discussions with Golding’s attorneys about the terms of a settlement of the claim against him for damages for defamation.
Clarke was also told to agree to provide a complete and unreserved written apology to Golding in a newspaper of islandwide circulation in Jamaica, in form and substance and with prominence acceptable to the People’s National Party president.
Clarke was told that failure to meet the demands, “we hold instructions to bring proceeding.”
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