Almost one month after television personality Ian Alleyne made a public appeal to fans to assist him in helping with the compensation he was ordered to pay for defaming businessman Shaun Sammy on his Crime Watch programme last year, Alleyne has cleared the $757,000 debt.
The T&T Guardian understands that Alleyne and his attorneys agreed to pay the outstanding money after Sammy’s attorneys, Om Lalla and Derick Balliram, threatened to take him back to court and force him to sell his incomplete multi-million-dollar mansion in Endeavour, Chaguanas.
Sammy’s attorneys were reportedly forced to take the action because the furniture, clothing and personal items seized by High Court marshalls at his other property at Rivulet Road, Couva, in October could not cover the sum owed. As Alleyne’s attorneys delivered a certified cheque to Sammy’s attorneys yesterday, the application for his property was withdrawn and the court told his personal items could be returned to him.
Sammy, his father, business magnate Junior Sammy and the family’s Junior Sammy Group of Companies, sued Alleyne last year, after Alleyne spoke about Sammy’s then pending case for drunk driving on his Crime Watch programme.
The programme was aired on television station CNC3, which is part of Guardian Media, before the company cut ties with Alleyne in August. Alleyne has since moved to another station.
According to police reports, Sammy was driving his vehicle along French Street, Woodbrook, around 5 pm on August 23, last year, when he was stopped by police.
A breathalyser test was done which showed he had a blood alcohol level of 86 microgrammes (mcg) of alcohol in every 100 millilitres of breath, 51 mcg above the legal limit.
Sammy eventually pleaded guilty to the offence in October and was placed on a bond to keep the peace for three years.