Cowardly social media attack on Costa family
Cowardly social media attack on Costa family
CYBER bullies launched a vicious and “evil” verbal attack on a Costa Blanca couple who flew home from a dream holiday Down Under and went straight into isolation under the rules of the coronavirus state of emergency.
They had been on the cruise ship Ruby Princess - a trip cut short after an outbreak of the virus on board - but along with hundreds of other people were flown back from Sydney to their home countries by the authorities; travelling back to Moraira via the UK and going straight into quarantine.
Now the family are looking to report those who made “serious death threats” to the police as a hate crime - the inflammatory messages were taken down by Moraira Connect when the abuse against Coral and Ray Guise-Smith was reported. They have since received a flood of support on the social media site.
The unsavoury episode was triggered by an article appearing in the Daily Mail Australia on March 27 and copied onto Mail Online to make a personal attack on Coral.
The newspaper used Facebook messages she posted both during her trip and after returning home to accuse her of “skipping quarantine” to continue her round-the-world trip and “if ” she was suffering fromCovid-19 risked the infection of thousands of people.
It focussed on her complaint of a “shocking headache” on her return but, according to a family member, she often suffers the malady and displayed no other coronavirus symptoms - in fact, both Coral and husband Ray are said to be both “fighting fit and well” and taking isolation seriously.
Coral, a dedicated supporter of local charities including the MABS Cancer Support Group, issued a statement saying her thoughts and prayers were with the genuine victims and their families of the horrific pandemic. “I, like the vast majority of our population, are treating the quarantine conditions with the seriousness they deserve.”
She said: “The threats made against my safety, and the safety of my family, have been shocking and very frightening. There was no need as we have done nothing wrong. On the other side, the support we have received has been fantastic from friends and people we have never even met; who could see for themselves that this was an attempt at false news and an unjustifiable character assassination by a tabloid rag!
“All we are guilty of is following the advice we were given in practicing social-distancing, returning to our home and self-isolating. We have done nothing wrong.”
And Coral added: “I think people’s reaction that we would or could infect Moraira with Covid-19 shows how scared people are...we wouldn’t ever risk exposing the place we love most in the world.”
She said since flights were stopped and borders closed, governments were telling citizens and residents to return home; the couple followed the advice and returned to Moraira from Australia - but that “was not enough” for a “pathetic rag” that has also “reached a new low in accusing Michel Barnier of giving Covid-19 to Boris Johnson.”
“We were supplied flights by Princess Cruise Lines themselves. We were told to leave the ship and isolate until our flight was due and return to our country of residence. No one told us any different and therefore that is what we did.
“If this was incorrect, then the blame lies solely with Princess Cruises and the New South Wales Port Authority, not the 2,700 passengers who are victims of their mismanagement of the situation - something that has been reported on since the original article about me.”
She said the couple received a home delivery from a supermarket - left outside the gate but had “absolutely” no contact with anyone. “After having travelled for 42 hours, it is no surprise we felt jet-lagged and suffering from serious stress which made us feel ill.”
Son Oliver Guise-Smith wrote on social media: “Please do not judge my mum for this baseless attack made by a tabloid rag. She’s received some quite serious threats from people online because of this.
“I hope the decent people among you reading this will see that my mum has been a victim of a tabloid rag, trying to make a story out of something which is not true and focussing on my mum.”
He said the newspaper barely made an attempt to contact Coral and instead “printed a defamatory article which blows everything out of proportion and paints my mum as a monster.”
And Oliver said: “My mum gets headaches all the time but at no point did she ever have a cough or temperature; and is fit, healthy and well right now, playing with the dog in the garden trying to ignore the threats she’s getting from complete strangers.”