00:00A legal threat over a headline and an allegation the Commissioner of Police says is simply not true.
00:07In a pre-action protocol letter sent to the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian dated August 20th, Commissioner of Police Alistair
00:15Govaro's attorney, Aslim Fayad Hussain, accuses the newspaper of publishing what he describes as a false and damaging narrative about
00:24medical access for 70-year-old Star Sabga, who was currently under house arrest.
00:30The dispute centers on the Guardian's August 19th front-page headline Star Seeks Agent Care.
00:36The accompanying report said Sabga was experiencing severe chest veins had lost 29 pounds and that repeated requests for doctors'
00:45visits had gone unanswered by the police commissioner.
00:49But Govaro's attorney, Aslim Fayad Hussain, says the report omitted a critical development.
00:54He says Dr. Jacqueline Pereira-Sabga was permitted access to Sabga on August 17th, two days before the Guardian publication.
01:03The lawyer argues that because access had already been granted, it was inaccurate to report on August 19th that the
01:10request for medical attention remained unanswered.
01:13He says the publication effectively portrayed the commissioner as personally refusing or delaying urgent medical treatment.
01:20The letter says that implication strikes at Govaro's integrity, judgment, humanity, and fitness to hold office of the commissioner of
01:29police.
01:29And another document attached to the letter appears to reinforce the commissioner's position.
01:34In a correspondence dated August 19th, attorney Colin McLeod representing Sabga says his legal team did not provide correspondence to
01:43the media.
01:43McLeod says that had he done so, they would have informed the media that Sabga had been permitted access by
01:51Dr. Pereira-Sabga on August 17th, following earlier correspondence seeking medical access.
01:57The commissioner's attorney is also challenging the Guardian's verification process.
02:01He says the newspaper did not put the allegation that Govaro was continuing to withhold medical access directly to the
02:08commissioner or the police service before publication, nor did it appear to verify whether access had been already granted.
02:16Now, the commissioner is demanding more than a clarification.
02:19His attorney is calling for an immediate halt to further publication, an interim correction within 48 hours, which has expired
02:27by now, within seven days,
02:29an agreed correction, retraction, and apology with prominence comparable to the original report.
02:35The demand also include amendments to online headlines, metadata, push notifications, and social media posts, as well as damages and
02:43legal costs.
02:44The Guardian has been given 28 days for a substantive response.
02:48That response is expected to address what verification was conducted, whether the commissioner or TTPS was approached for comment,
02:56and what legal defense, if any, the newspaper intends to rely on.
03:00And Govaro's attorney is making it clear that if the matter is not satisfactorily resolved, court proceedings could follow.
03:08Urvashi Tawari, Rupnarain, TV6 News.
