Popular TikToker 119 was arrested and charged

Overview Of the Arrest of Milton Wray

Popular TikToker 119 was arrested on Tuesday and hit with a charge of malicious communication under the Cybercrimes Act in relation to two social media posts regarding a female of a St Catherine address.

The social media personality, whose real name is Milton Wray, was held by the Spanish Town Criminal Investigative Branch (CIB). He was granted station bail in the sum of $400,000 and will answer to the charge in the St Catherine Parish court on May 12.

Detail of incident

“I begged them to tell me what words in my post amounted to ‘malicious communication’. The officer replied ‘that’s why there is a judicial system that will be revealed in court’,” he explained when contacted by the press.

The Tiktoker, who is a former journalist, is relishing the challenge to his freedom of speech and expression rights which he believes are “core human rights”.

119 Popular Tiktoker

Milton Wray

Legal Context

“I am seeking a stay on the matter pending a challenge in the constitutional court. I believe this is a new low for the police who are seeking to infringe on the rights of regular Jamaicans by misinterpreting the law in order to muzzle them,” Wray said. The case revolves around two social media posts that 119 allegedly made regarding a young lady who later filed a complaint to the Spanish Town CIB. Wray believes the newly instituted Cybercrimes Act is ‘patently unconstitutional’, infringing dangerously on the provisions of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms.

“All citizens of Jamaica should know that if you speak the truth, the police can come for you and arrest and charge you. The provisions of this new law are clearly not justifiable in a free and democratic society,” he stressed.