Punch publisher Ivan Johnson has demanded that police retract and issue an apology for statements made in a press release regarding his recent arrest.  Johnson, Mickell Gomez and Christina Toote are accused of failing to declare that they were travelling with more than $10,000 to a U.S. customs officer on June 27.

Before the parties made their initial appearance before a magistrate on July 1, police press liaison officer Sergeant Chrislyn Skippings circulated a press release announcing Johnson's arrest and future arraignment to the media via mass e-mail on June 29.

In a letter to Commissioner of Police Ellison Greenslade, Johnson's lawyer, John Bostwick, wrote, "I am certain that you will agree, on detailed review of the same, that your press release is not only defamatory, it, and its issuance, is deeply disturbing and ill-conceived for a number of reasons."

Bostwick said in his letter to Greenslade, "While it is a sad but true travesty that the RBPF does in fact arrest, charge and prosecute 'accused' persons, they do not stand as judge and jury also. Nor should they be in the business of defaming and slandering in the most public manner possible via mass e-mail to every known member of the Bahamian press those whom they are in the process of prosecuting lest the same justifiably appear to be persecution.

"The statement quoted [from the press release] is conclusive in its assertion that Mr. Johnson did in fact make a false declaration, an accusation he has formally denied and pleaded not guilty to. In having issued the referenced statement the RBPF [has] defamed Mr. Johnson in an unconscionable manner given that they are the agency conducting his ongoing prosecution.
"To this end, we hereby demand that you immediately issue an appropriate retraction and apology to Mr. Johnson in order to limit and mitigate the damages which have already been incurred."

Bostwick said that he was reliably informed that senior officers at the Central Division ordered Johnson and his co-accused handcuffed and taken to the Nassau Street Police Station, "although their sureties had signed their bail bonds and the same were sitting on the magistrate's bench awaiting her signature."

Bostwick said this was done "in a further attempt to ensure that Mr. Johnson suffered the greatest humiliation possible."  Bostwick has requested that police circulate an approved retraction and apology in the same manner as the offending release. Johnson also wants compensation for the costs he has incurred in the matter.

Bostwick said if the force refuses to issue the apology and arrive at an out of court settlement for damages, Johnson would seek punitive damages in a Supreme Court action.
 
 
 
 

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