Almost a year after local social media star Daniel Wharton aka “Baby Skello” was charged for blasphemous libel, he walked out of the Diamond Magistrates’ Court as a free man after the charge against him was dismissed.
In June 2025, Wharton was charged and remanded to prison over a song that he sang on his TikTok page that made references to the Hindu Goddess, Mother Lakshmi. He was eventually granted bail after his Attorneys approached the High Court. He also issued a public apology to the Hindu community.
In court today, Magistrate Wanda Fortune dismissed the charge against the young man after finding that it was bad in law.
The Magistrate said the specific law used to file the charge against Wharton relates directly to offences against the Christian religion.
Magistrate Fortune said the law could not apply to the incident that resulted in the man being charged, making the charge defective and bad in law.
Wharton was represented by a battery of Attorneys including Everton Singh-Lammy, Angel Stephens and Glen Hannoman.
The dismissal highlights a significant legal issue regarding the application of blasphemous libel laws in a multi-religious society and raises questions about the adequacy of existing legislation to address offences against religions other than Christianity.
