Journalist’s widow has filed defamation claim and an injunction against blogger Milton Wray

Patrice Hussey-Malcolm, widow of the late journalist Dervan Malcolm, has filed a defamation claim against Milton Wray, operator of the YouTube platform The 119 Channel, asking the court to restrain him from publishing or republishing allegations concerning her and to order the removal of seven videos at the centre of the dispute.

The legal action marks a dramatic escalation of a feud which has spilled across YouTube and social media and generated hundreds of thousands of views.

Hussey-Malcolm, an executive sous chef who was married to Malcolm for 26 years, alleges that Wray published a series of videos between August 28 and September 16 containing damaging accusations about her marriage and private life. The court documents say the broadcasts accused her, among other things, of infidelity and contributing to her late husband’s suffering and death — allegations she emphatically denies.

The widow is seeking considerably more than an injunction. Her claim seeks $2 million in special damages, alongside general and aggravated damages, damages for an alleged breach of Jamaica’s Data Protection Act, a court-approved correction and apology, interest and legal costs.

The legal showdown is now only hours away.

According to the filed Notice of Application for Court Orders, Hussey-Malcolm’s application for an interim injunction is scheduled to be heard before a judge in the Supreme Court on Thursday, September 24. The application seeks, among other things, to restrain Wray from further publishing the disputed allegations and to compel the removal of seven videos identified in the proceedings.

Wray, however, is already predicting that the case will collapse.

“What I am prepared to say is that this matter cannot proceed,” he told Dancehall Mag. “It is impossible for this lawsuit to proceed through the courts. It is an abuse of the judicial process and an assault on the free press. I can assure the public that this matter will certainly be dismissed, as it is fatally flawed.”

That remains Wray’s contention. The court has yet to determine the injunction application or the underlying allegations.

What began as a bruising war of words on YouTube will now move from the digital courtroom to the real one — with both sides set for a September 24 showdown in the Supreme Court.