Barbados newspaper editors arrested over teens sex picture publication

The Barbados Nation



BRIDGETOWN, Barbados:

Three employees of the Nation Publishing Co. Limited in Barbados were arrested and charged Thursday after weeks of public debate over a photograph of two students and a story about them having sex in a classroom were published.



Publisher Vivian-Anne Gittens, Editor-in-Chief Roy Morris and News Editor Sanka Price were each released on BDS$5,000 bail each after appearing on charges of showing an indecent picture of two minors in the SATURDAY SUN.



All three were charged under the Protection of Children Act and were not required to plea to the indictable matter.



They face the possibility of five years in prison if convicted of the offence.



The trio was also ordered by Magistrate Wayne Clarke to surrender their passports and to reappear in court on March 11.



The charges stemmed from the October 26 publication of an article and accompanying photograph based on the Facebook posting of a cellphone video of two students having sex in a classroom.



There was public outcry from some members of the public questioning the failure to monitor students and the breach of the no-cellphone rule at school.



Others criticised the posting of the video and those who continued to circulate it on the Internet.



The newspaper was also lambasted for its publication.



Today, a number of senior officials from Nation Publishing and Nation Corporation , Editor Emeritus Harold Hoyte and One Caribbean Media director Dr. Grenville Phillips all turned out to show solidarity with the trio.



On Wednesday two boys, one 15, the other 16, went to court on charges of taking indecent photographs of children in relation to the same article.



They were released on $10,000 bail to return to court on November 27.



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