Lawmaker assaults Gleaner Intern, later apologises for his action

Controversial Parliamentarian Everald Warmington late yesterday apologised for assaulting a Gleaner representative hours earlier.

It is unclear whether Warmington's apology was influenced by the intervention of his colleague, Olivia Babsy Grange, who arranged a meeting with Gleaner representatives.

Warmington was among several members of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) parliamentary group being photographed on their arrival at the party's Belmont Road headquarters in Kingston.

The South West St Catherine MP proceeded to manhandle the female Gleaner intern and directed his fury at a colleague journalist who reprimanded him for his action.

He walked away to attend the caucus but remerged hours later to address members of the Gleaner team, although the young woman who had been assaulted was not present.

Was not feeling well

Warmington had expressed a desire to speak to her in person.

He said he felt the need to apologise as he was not feeling well when the incident took place.

The MP said he was feeling drugged from medication after returning from a doctor's appointment, where he underwent therapy for a slip disk in the neck.

This is not the first time that Warmington has been accused of verbally assaulting a female journalist.

READ: Crass is crass! Warmington's log of shame

His action in October 2011 elicited a petition, which was signed by female journalists practising in Jamaica.

The petition was sent to then Prime Minister Bruce Golding asking that immediate action be taken against Warmington.

The letter expressed "deep outrage over recent offensive statements by Warmington, which we find particularly demeaning and degrading of Jamaican women".