Guardian Issues Correction Over False Report on Missing Firearms, San Fernando Mayor Threatens Legal Action

The Trinidad and Tobago Guardian recently issued a correction and an apology following a report which falsely alleged that missing firearms were discovered in the Office of the Mayor in San Fernando. The Mayor of San Fernando, Councillor Robert Parris, publicised a formal letter addressed to the newspaper’s Editor-in-Chief, in which he firmly denounced the original report as ‘categorically false and misleading’.

In his letter, Mayor Parris clarified that the Office of the Mayor has never been involved in storing, housing, or maintaining firearms or ammunition. Instead, any firearms connected to the ongoing investigation are under the operational responsibility of the San Fernando Municipal Police Unit. The Municipal Police operates from its own designated area within the San Fernando City Corporation compound, separate from the Mayor’s Office.

Parris stressed that the false report had caused significant damage to the reputation of the Office of the Mayor. He warned that he had instructed his attorneys to initiate legal action unless the story was corrected and a public apology issued within 24 hours.

Following the release of Mayor Parris’s letter, the Guardian swiftly published an editor’s note acknowledging their error. The media house corrected their report, stating that the firearms had reportedly gone missing from the police post located within the San Fernando City Corporation compound, which also houses the Mayor’s Office. They extended their apologies for the previous inaccurate wording.