Knight gives Tufton deadline to apologise

By: Tanesha Mundle

Image caption: KD Knight

Veteran attorney-at-law and former government minister K.D. Knight has given Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton until Friday morning to issue a public apology and formally retract the attribution of a controversial, doctored audio recording to him.

Knight claims the clip, played by Tufton during his address at the Jamaica Labour Party mass rally in Half-Way Tree, St Andrew, on Sunday, was edited to suggest that he opposed Mark Golding becoming prime minister, and was done to tarnish both his and Golding’s reputation.

“ Your conscious decision to play the above recording can only be rightfully described as defamatory. Furthermore, your defamatory conduct has caused great harm to our client’s reputation.

“ Responsibility must be taken for the resulting defamation of our client. We now demand that you publicly retract the attribution of the manipulated audio recording to our client,” stated a letter sent from Knight’s law firm, Knight, Junior and Samuels, to the health minister yesterday.

“ We are prepared to negotiate a settlement between your legal representatives and our law firm. We expect that the apology and retraction demanded will be agreed on or before Friday, August 15, 2025, at 11:00 a.m.,” the letter stated further.

The firm also requested that the terms of the retraction and apology be agreed upon between the attorneys for both parties and be sent to all media houses for publication, as well as on the JLP social media pages.

KNIGHT’S DENIAL

Following the use of the reportedly altered audio, in which Knight’s voice was heard saying Golding was unfit to be prime minister, Knight issued a statement denying the attribution of the statement to him in the way it was expressed.

Knight indicated that the audio was altered to distort his utterances and to deceive the public.

“I have never said that Mark Golding must not become the prime minister of Jamaica. I have never said that. I haven’t said it in a group. I haven’t said it in my house. I haven’t said it anywhere,” Knight said.

He presented what he said was the original voice note, which was aired during Tuesday’s edition radio news programme Beyond the Headlines — explaining that it was sent to a WhatsApp group four years ago during internal party discussions. At the time, Knight said he was advocating unity, not division.

Tufton, who had insisted that the audio at the rally was authentic, maintained his stance when he also appeared on the radio programme. He stressed that he was also not responsible for altering the audio, if it was doctored.

Knight’s lawyer, in the letter, also pointed to Tufton’s response on the programme after hearing the original audio, which was that he had not heard any difference, noting that he was doubling down on his position.

In the meantime, Tufton was informed via the letter that his compliance may help to mitigate the damage caused to their client, but would not cancel the pursuit of legal action.

Tufton, when contacted yesterday, said he has not yet received a copy of the letter but is maintaining his stance.

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