Kaieteur News Editor charged with contempt
Guyana Chronicle
January 12, 2007
JUSTICE B. S. Roy yesterday charged Kaieteur News Editor Adam Harris with contempt of court.
After reading out the particulars of the offence to him, the judge ordered the contemnor to return next Tuesday, January 16, to show cause why he should not be committed to prison for it.
Attorney-at-law Mr. Kulraj Kampta, appearing for Harris, attempted to make a preliminary point, about alleged procedural irregularities, but the judge refused to entertain him, stating that the court had set out the particulars of the case and has given Harris an opportunity to be heard.
Kampta is a Guyanese lawyer who practises in Trinidad.
Details of the allegations referred to an article published and circulated in the Kaieteur News newspaper of December 24, 2006, under the caption ‘When the courts legalise an illegality’ and written by Harris.
Justice Roy said the publication:
* sought to bring the court into contempt and obstruct the course of justice and its fair administration;
*prejudiced the minds of the public against a party in a case which has not been
finally heard and determined;
* scandalised the court and brought the entire administration of justice into disrepute;
* commented on the proceedings in a pending civil action and purported to put forward a defence which was then not on the court’s record;
* sought to prejudice a party to the proceedings and prevent there being a fair trial;
* published a heading to the article which was not a fair index of the matter pending before the court and
* conveyed to the public that the orders granted by the court were based on considerations other than settled legal principles.