Talk show host charged with offending Charles Ramson Jr.

Last Updated on Thursday, 29 April 2021, 22:36 by Denis Chabrol

Gavin Matthews

A Facebook political commentator, who is a critic of the People’s Progressive Party (PPP) administration, was Thursday arrested under the Cybercrime Act for allegedly offending Charles Ramson last month.

Police said Gavin Matthews was subsequently released on GYD$100,000 station bail

Ramson, who is an Attorney-at-Law and Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport,  posted a video excerpt containing offending words as uttered by Mr. Matthews and captioned stated that “This is why he is arrested …freedom of speech doesn’t mean you could call people “murderer” and “terrorist”.

Mr. Matthews was arrested at the Square of the Revolution while he was staging an anti-government picketing exercise. Based on a video of the arrest, police said that on March 25, 2021 “you used a computer system to publish a video on Facebook that was derogatory with intent to humiliate or embarrass or cause emotional distress to Charles Ramson Jr.

After the charge was read, Mr. Matthews remarked that “I don’t know of such.” Before he went in the company of the police in a force vehicle, he posted live Facebook video account of all the policemen and their vehicles.

“Charles Ramson Jr and I are not friends. I don’t know him. He is a de facto Minister within the de facto government,” said Matthews, a former presidential bodyguard under the previous People’s Progressive Party (PPP) administration.

Mr. Matthews said he was “fed up” of efforts to “shut me up.”

On arrival at the Brickdam Police enquiries desk, he was asked by police why he was videoing and he responded saying, “I don’t trust the police”. He asked whether there was any law or sections of the Constitution that prohibited him from recording inside the police station “while I’m being harassed.”

He eventually decided to hand over his phone.