A high-stakes legal standoff has emerged between Trinidad and Tobago’s top law enforcement official and one of the country’s leading newspapers, rooted in contested reporting about medical access for a detained businesswoman linked to an unproven assassination conspiracy plot.
Police Commissioner Allister Guevarro has initiated pre-action legal proceedings against the Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, following the outlet’s August 19 front-page story headlined “STAR SEEKS URGENT CARE”. That report centered on 70-year-old detainee Star Sabga, who was being held under a preventive detention order, claiming she had suffered severe chest pains and dropped 29 pounds, while repeated requests for a doctor’s appointment had been ignored by Guevarro personally.
In the pre-action protocol letter dated August 20, delivered through his attorney Aslim Fiaid Hosein, Guevarro rejects the paper’s narrative as false, damaging, and defamatory. The letter argues that the reporting created the false impression that Guevarro personally blocked, delayed, or obstructed Sabga’s urgent medical care, callously disregarded a medical emergency, violated a court order, and abused the authority of his office. These claims, the letter adds, have unjustly undermined public confidence in Guevarro’s fitness to hold his post and caused serious harm to his professional integrity, judgment, and personal reputation.
Crucially, Guevarro’s legal team highlights a key fact the Guardian allegedly failed to verify before going to print: medical access for Sabga had already been approved and granted 48 hours before the report was published. Dr Jacqueline Pereira-Sabga was permitted to visit and treat Sabga on August 17, two days ahead of the Guardian’s August 19 front-page story. While requests for medical access were first submitted on July 29 and 30, with follow-up correspondence on August 10 and 14, final approval was secured well before the story ran, according to the letter.
The pre-action letter also cites confirmation from Sabga’s own attorney, Carlon McLeod, dated the same day the Guardian published its story. McLeod explicitly stated that his legal team had not shared any correspondence with the media, and would have clarified that medical access had been granted as of August 17 if they had been contacted for comment.
Guevarro’s legal team further alleges the Guardian failed to meet basic journalistic standards: it relied on incomplete, unvetted, and unauthorized source material, and never reached out to Guevarro or the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service to request a response to the core allegation that the Commissioner was continuing to block medical care.
Per the terms of the pre-action letter, Guevarro has issued a series of demands. He is calling for the Guardian to immediately stop repeating the disputed allegations, publish an interim correction within 48 hours confirming medical access was granted on August 17, issue a full retraction and public apology, and pay compensatory damages and all associated legal costs. He is also requesting data on the print circulation and digital reach of the contested article, and a formal promise that the false claims will not be published again.
The Guardian has been given 28 days to submit a formal substantive response, outlining whether it admits or denies the allegations and what legal defenses it plans to rely on if the case proceeds to court. Guevarro’s letter warns that if satisfactory remedial action and commitments are not received within the deadline, he has instructed his legal team to launch full defamation proceedings without additional notice, seeking aggravated and exemplary damages, injunctive relief, accrued interest, and full legal costs. That said, Guevarro has left the door open to an out-of-court resolution, noting he remains open to early negotiations or court-ordered mediation if the newspaper takes immediate corrective action.
To understand the broader context of the case, Sabga was first taken into custody in June this year under a Preventive Detention Order, after state authorities alleged she played a key role in a conspiracy to assassinate Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar and other senior government officials. Intelligence reports linked Sabga to businessman Dominic Hadeed and his wife Genevieve, who were also connected to the alleged plot. However, High Court Judge Vigel Paul ordered Sabga’s release from custody on July 27, ruling that there was no credible evidence to show Sabga had taken any actionable steps to advance the alleged conspiracy beyond an initial conversation. Notably, Sabga was never formally criminally charged in connection with the assassination plot claims.