Several individuals from the Confidence “camp” have outlined the reasons why Confidence Haugen, who seems to be the focal point of the on-going Ayigbe Edem Theft Saga, has resulted to a muffled lip. One of the principal reasons is that, Confidence has been counselled by her Lawyer to keep to her silence as they contemplate on either to bring a legal suit against certain individuals or to let things be eroded by the wind.

I do not intend to side with any of the personalities involved in this Saga. This write-up is just to consider, inter alia, if any of the involved names have been defamed under the law and if there can be any successful legal suit against any personality or media house at this point. The stuffing of the P&P article in conjunction with the Ayigbe Edem’s Press Conference “talk about” would be used as a prima facie evidence for the purpose of my write-up.

I will commence by looking at defamation and then referring to the prima facie evidence, will also try to find out who has been really defamed. According to Lord Akin in Sim v Stretch, a defamatory statement is one which tends to lower a person, “in the estimation of right-thinking members of society”.

During the Agyibe Edem’s Press Conference, It was emphatically mentioned that, Confidence Haugen posted on her face book wall “My boyfriend has stolen my phone”. I was dumbfounded to hear an “ignorant” female journalist vividly saying because Confidence did not plainly write that “Ayigbe Edem has stolen my phone”, there was no need for the initial publication by P&P and subsequently, Edem should not assume that the Face Book message was referring to him.

The above deduction by the female journalist gave me a big laugh and without contempt, I can intrepidly say, she is a “dim-witted” journalist. It is worthy to mention that, in cases of defamation, the claimant must be identifiable from the statement, though the words need not to name him/her directly as seen in Morgan v Odhams Press Ltd.

Indeed, if Confidence wrote the uncontested message on her Face Book wall and a substantial group of people who know Edem as the boyfriend understood that it referred to him, then Confidence was the first person who defamed Ayigbe Edem. The management of Agyibe Edem can therefore sue Confidence for publishing on her Face Book wall a defamatory statement about Edem.

I am amaze that Confidence Haugen is considering a law suit against P&P and other forums that carried the on-going story. It is within her civil right as a citizen to sue for damages but has she gotten any case in the rims of the law?

If P&P published this story base on the message on her FaceBook wall, then they only substantiated on a defamatory statement published by her about her boyfriend. Why would she want to sue P&P? It is just like suing her “own” self in law.

Looking at the matter in question, I do not think any of the other forums apart from the original publisher (P&P) can be successfully sued. The forums which carried and commented on this story have defences of innocent dissemination, Fair Comment on a matter of public Interest, Qualified Privilege, Opinion, etc. P&P, if sued by any of the parties can also look at the above mentioned defences. If they can also prove on balance of probabilities that their publication is true, they have the best defence of “Truth” available to them. I do not want to go into defences at this stage.

In conclusion, the P&P article together with Agyibe Edem’s Press Conference “talk about” builds a strong idea that Confidence Haugen has no prima facie defamatory case which she can fruitfully bring against anyone in any law court. Unless there is more to this, I will suggest to Confidence as a good friend not to proceed to any court since the prima facie evidence does not look good from her side. I stand to be corrected on any of the issues mentioned in this article and comments, criticisms & suggestions are ….

Ayigbe Edem’s Press Conference Video

By: Chris-Vincent Agyapong Febiri /Ghanacelebrities.com