A law firm in St. George's has despatched a letter to Grenada's Ambassador to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Dr. Patrick Antoine in connection with an altercation at the Point Salines International airport (PSIA). Informed sources told GRENADA TODAY that the law firm pursuing the Trinidad and Tobago-based Antoine is Ciboney Chambers on H.A. Blaize Street.

According to a well-placed source, an employee of Aviation Services of Grenada (ASG), Kim Neckles has retained the law firm to institute civil proceedings against Dr. Antoine for allegedly striking him at the airport.

He said the law firm is giving Dr. Antoine an opportunity to settle the matter out of court through financial compensation by a particular timeframe or face the prospects of going before a high court judge for adjudication. The incident is said to have occurred over a month ago when Dr. Antoine arrived in the country on a northern flight that was bound for Trinidad and Tobago.

The source said that the ambassador became annoyed that his luggage did not arrive at the airport on the plane that brought him into the country. "He (Antoine) believed that his luggage was on the plane that had just left the airport and wanted the plane to come back and for it to be searched for his missing baggage", he added. "He was asking the guy (Neckles) to bring back the plane and the guy was saying to him that it cannot be done just like that", he said.

The law firm is alleging based on instructions from Neckles that Dr. Antoine became angry with him for not recalling the aircraft and then struck him. The controversial ambassador ran into problems a few years ago in Barbados when he was an employee with a regional institution. Dr. Antoine was charged for allegedly trying to leave the country with more than the stipulated foreign currency.