KINGSTON, Jamaica — People’s National Party (PNP) activist, Karen Cross and social media blogger, Natalee Stack, have been ordered to pay $750,000 each within 14 days after they were found guilty of contempt of court in a court matter involving PNP General Secretary, Dr Dayton Campbell. 

If Cross and Stack fail to pay the fine, they will spend six months in jail. 

The order was made in the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston on Thursday.

Campbell had filed a defamation lawsuit against both Cross and Stack in relation to allegations of sexual misconduct they levelled against him on social media.

A gag order was later imposed on all parties, restricting them from making any further public commentary on the matter.

However, both Cross and Stack have continued to use their social media platforms to make the allegations against Campbell, and were consequently found guilty of contempt of court.

In May, news emerged that Cross had filed an explosive defence in the Supreme Court in the defamation suit that Campbell filed against her.

In her defence, Cross included signed statements, allegedly witnessed by justices of the peace, from three women making allegations of sexual misconduct against Campbell while they were minors.

But responding to the much-publicised allegations, Campbell, in a statement at the time, said he rejected in the strongest of terms, recent and ongoing allegations made against his character by Cross and others.

“These allegations have been circulated widely across social media platforms and covered by some traditional media houses. When [the] allegations first surfaced online, the People’s National Party referred the matter to the police. I then filed a lawsuit against Karen Cross et al for defamation, having publicly denied the allegations,” declared Campbell.

He noted that the police had reported that after extensive investigations into the claims they found no basis for the allegations and Cross provided no evidence to support her allegations.

Campbell argued that Cross filed her defence to the defamation case after the police concluded their investigations with statements that were dated before the police cleared him.

“…And most importantly, these statements were not provided to the police. Even more so, the justice(s) of the peace who allegedly witnessed these statements would be obliged under the Child Care and Protection Act to bring these matters to the attention of the police, yet the police remain unaware of any such letters.

“Having denied the allegations in the strongest of terms and based on this series of actions taken by Ms Cross to sully my reputation, I am extremely disappointed that media houses continue to carry unfounded claims,” said Campbell, while making several allegations against Cross whom he described as “a known political mercenary”.

“It is extremely unfortunate that at a time in which the national discourse has been so focused on gender-based violence, that Miss Cross and her benefactors would seek to trivialise this issue with baseless and scurrilous allegations,” said Campbell.