Barbados, CMC – A court has dismissed charges against three senior officials of the Nation newspaper after upholding a no case submission in case involving the publication of a photograph of two underage children caught on a video engaged in sex in a classroom.
Acting Magistrate Allison Seale warned society would have to deal with the social challenges facing the country instead of burying its head in the sands.
Police had charged publisher Vivian-Anne Gittens, Editor-in-Chief Roy Morris and journalist Sanka Price with showing an indecent photograph of minors, contrary to the provisions of the Protection Of Children Act. the charges arose after the Saturday Sun newspaper on October 26, 2013 published a photograph of two underage students who had been caught on a video engaging in sex in a classroom at their rural secondary school.
Magistrate Sealy ruled in favour of the attorneys representing the newspaper employees after hearing arguments in the no-case submission.
In her ruling, the magistrate said that the newspaper had “sought to put in the public domain what was happening.
“It does not help to put our heads in the sand,” she added.
