Social media personality, Mikhail Rodrigues popularly known as the “Guyanese Critic” has been ordered to pay $8M in damages to former Government Minister under the A Partnership for National Unity and the Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Simona Broomes in a libel and defamation lawsuit.
Broomes sued Rodrigues over several statements he made about her in his morning programme, ‘They Break News’. She has asked the court to award her $450M in damages.
The former Minister had listed 14 times that the social media commentator made statements defaming her on his January 24, 2024 programme.
In the document drafted by attorney Dexter Todd, Broomes noted that Rodrigues accused her of engaging in illegal activities, from operated a brothel to being involved trafficking of persons.
The court made the following orders:
(1) That Defendant has made libellous statements against the Claimant on January 22, 2024 on his Facebook page “They Break News” in a live stream video for his program entitled “MORNING LIVE. WITH THE CRITIC”, the Defendant defamed the Claimant when he stated that the Claimant was a part of a “whorehouse” business a “trafficker”, meaning that the claimant was a human trafficker and the Defendant shall pay to the Claimant general damages in the sum of $5,000,000 (five million dollars) for the said libel.
(2) That Defendant has made libellous statements against the Claimant on January 22, 2024 on his Facebook page “They Break News” in a live stream video for his program entitled “MORNING LIVE. WITH THE CRITIC”, the Defendant defamed the Claimant when he stated that the Claimant shut down many mining operations in the interior to the benefit of her mining operation the Defendant shall pay to the Claimant general damages in the sum of $3,000,000 (three million dollars) for the said libel.
(3) That the Defendant to forthwith remove and/or cause to be removed all social media posts which contain the false and defamatory words or similar words which convey either expressly or infer the same meaning from his social media platforms, pages, profiles and website(s).
The court also ruled that interest will run from the date of the filing of the Statement of Claim.
Presiding over the case was Justice Priscilla Chandra-Hanif.
