PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Apr 12, CMC – A High Court judge has awarded a radio talk show host TT$700,000 (One TT dollar =US$0.16 cents) in damages after agreeing that defamatory and derogatory remarks had been made against him by three other competitors.

Ricardo “Gladiator” Welch had claimed that talk show hosts Devon Welch, Andy “Pitbull” Williams and Juliet Davy had defamed him in 2010, by labelling him as a gay and being guilty of extortion during radio programmes they hosted called The War Room and The Ground Report.

Justice Mira Dean-Armorer said Welch was entitled to damages because of the actions of the three, acknowledging that the Trinidad and Tobago society has not yet evolved to be indifferent or acceptant of alternative sexual orientations.

She said a person’s sexual orientation cannot be of public interest as she dismissed the fair comment defence of the three radio hosts. The judge also dismissed their other defences and held that it was unclear why they were malignant in their programmes.

Justice Dean-Armorer said the words used by the defendants about Welch, were meant to invoke scorn and had the effect of weakening his reputation.

Welch also sued for, among other things, the cost of his car as well as a TT$16,377 medical bill, claiming that his health had been affected by the defamatory statements.

But he was not successful in his claim for the cost of the car, his medical bills or his loss of friends and acquaintances and Justice Dean-Armorer also dismissed a similar claim for damages against a radio station that aired the programme.

Welch had also objected to a seven-day stay being granted to the three, telling the court that payment should be immediate or possibly a down payment by early next week.

But the judge disagreed saying that the compensation ordered by the court was a sizeable amount and the three defendants would require some time to consider an appeal.