A woman has to pay compensation to another for posting what the court has dubbed as defamatory statements on Facebook.

The posting carried claims that Prison Officer Heidi Joseph abandoned her three children on a roadside.

Ama Charles has to pay $75,000 in compensation.

High Court judge Margaret Mohammed in the Hall of Justice in Port of Spain made the order yesterday.

Justice Mohammed said the claims made by Ms. Charles against Ms. Joseph were of a very serious nature since it called into question her fitness as a parent in a society where the acts of parents with their children are under immense scrutiny.

The Facebook post was made on January 24^th 2016.

Justice Mohammed said in her opinion the ordinary reasonable person reading the post would have concluded that Ms. Joseph was an irresponsible mother for leaving her children unsupervised in front of the house of a third party, who she did not know.