Category Archives: Defamation law

Craig McLachlan allegedly threw tantrums and threatened Rocky Horror Show cast members, court told

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Defence barrister tells defamation trial McLachlan had ‘tendency to get angry easily’

Craig McLachlan has been portrayed in court as an allegedly powerful and angry lead actor who threw tantrums, threatened cast members and physically abused actresses.

Defence barrister Michael Hodge QC on Friday took a defamation trial jury through several incidents in which McLachlan, 56, was alleged to have been furious at supervisor directions, musicians missing cues and fellow actors changing their performances without notice.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial: witness expected to deny wrongdoing in killing of Afghan villager

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Person 11 to give evidence on allegation by newspapers that Roberts-Smith kicked handcuffed man off cliff before ordering him shot

An Australian soldier alleged by three newspapers to have participated with Ben Roberts-Smith in the “joint criminal enterprise” of murdering an Afghan villager named Ali Jan is set to appear in the federal court this week as a witness for Roberts-Smith in his defamation action against the newspapers.

Anonymised before the court as Person 11, the SAS’s soldier evidence will be critical to Roberts-Smith’s case over the events in the village of Darwan on 11 September 2012, when Roberts-Smith is alleged, by the newspapers in their defence, to have kicked a handcuffed Ali Jan off a cliff before ordering him shot.

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Who shot the dog? The canine killing that could play a crucial role in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial

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Identity of Afghan special forces member who killed stray dog could prove critical in newspapers’ defence

Amid allegations of war crimes, of murder, and of domestic violence, the seemingly inconsequential but bizarre death of a dog has dominated days of evidence in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial.

It has done so because the identity of an Afghan special forces member who shot the stray dog – accidentally injuring an Australian soldier – during an SAS mission in July 2012 could prove critical in an allegation of murder made against Roberts-Smith in the newspapers’ defence.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial: former patrol commander denies ordering execution of elderly prisoner

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Ex-soldier known as Person 5 denies allegation put by lawyers acting for newspapers

Ben Roberts-Smith’s former patrol commander has denied in court accusations he ordered the execution of an elderly Afghan prisoner discovered hiding in a tunnel – in an alleged “blooding” of a junior soldier.

The retired soldier, anonymised before the court as Person 5, was directly challenged on Tuesday by lawyers for three newspapers being sued by Roberts-Smith: “You told [soldier] Person 4 to murder the old man.”

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Witness in Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial denies he is a ‘liar and a fantasist’

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Former SAS soldier defends himself against accusations from Arthur Moses SC of trying to justify his own failures as a soldier

A former SAS soldier who testified that Ben Roberts-Smith ordered him to stage a mock execution of a comrade during a training drill has defended himself in court against accusations he was a liar and fantasist who was trying to justify his own failures as a soldier.

Roberts-Smith’s lawyers accused the former soldier, known as Person 10, of fabricating evidence out of malice against Roberts-Smith, and feelings of inadequacy about his own performance on missions in Afghanistan.

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Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial: ‘I believed something unlawful had happened’, Andrew Hastie says

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Assistant defence minister tells court he was troubled by ‘warrior culture’ in elite SAS regiment when he and Roberts-Smith were comrades in Afghanistan

Australia’s Special Air Service regiment was riven by a “culture war” with one faction obsessed by a “pagan warrior ethos” where “killing was a sacrament in itself”, the assistant defence minister, Andrew Hastie, has told Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial.

Hastie, a former SAS officer who resigned from the military when he was preselected to run for parliament, has been subpoenaed to give evidence by three newspapers defending a defamation action brought by his former comrade and Victoria Cross recipient Roberts-Smith.

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Assistant defence minister Andrew Hastie tells court Ben Roberts-Smith was seen as a bully in SAS

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Hastie, giving evidence in defamation trial, also claims Roberts-Smith’s reported version of Afghanistan mission was an ‘alternate universe’

The assistant defence minister, former SAS officer Andrew Hastie, has told a court there was a “widespread view” within the SAS that Ben Roberts-Smith was a bully towards his comrades.

The minister told the federal court on Thursday that Roberts-Smith’s reported version of a mission they both served on in Afghanistan was an “alternate universe” to what he observed.

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‘I was afraid of what he might do’: woman tells court Ben Roberts-Smith punched her and threatened to burn down her house

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Woman who had affair with former SAS soldier tells defamation trial he refused to take her to hospital for treatment and took naked photos of her while she slept

Ben Roberts-Smith punched a woman he was having an affair with in the face, refused to take her to hospital when she pleaded for medical help, and then took pictures of her naked while she slept, the woman has told the federal court.

In an emotional two hours in the witness box, the woman, who has been anonymised before the court as Person 17, gave evidence about a tempestuous six-month relationship she had with the former SAS soldier, which she alleges was at times threatening and violent.

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Erin Molan, Nyadol Nyuon tell inquiry defamation bill not ‘useful’ for most online trolling victims

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Problems of cost and ‘unmanageable’ volume of abuse cited as eSafety commissioner says proposed bill should be renamed

High-profile victims of online trolling, including Erin Molan and Nyadol Nyuon, have said an “anti-trolling” bill that overhauls defamation law for online comments will be “almost impossible” to uptake and not “useful” to most people in Australia due to the cost and effort involved.

The bill will make the owners of social media pages and groups not liable for user comments on those groups or pages, and would shift the liability burden to social media platforms if they do not attempt to facilitate the unmasking of anonymous commenters for someone seeking to bring defamation proceedings.

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WA premier described Clive Palmer as ‘the worst Australian who’s not in jail’ in text messages

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Mark McGowan also thanked media mogul Kerry Stokes for ‘marvellous front pages’ attacking Palmer in 2020, court hears in defamation case

The Western Australia premier, Mark McGowan, privately described mining billionaire Clive Palmer as “the worst Australian who’s not in jail” in text messages revealed in court during their defamation trial.

The premier was grilled on Wednesday about his personal communications regarding Palmer while being cross-examined in the federal court in Sydney.

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Rebekah Vardy said she would ‘love’ to leak stories about Coleen Rooney to media

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Vardy is suing Rooney for libel over allegation that Vardy leaked stories from Rooney’s private Instagram account

Rebekah Vardy said she would “love” to leak stories about Coleen Rooney to the media, according to messages disclosed at the high court.

The court filings suggest Vardy and her former agent Caroline Watt had an ongoing relationship with reporters at the Sun newspaper and discussed at length how to leak stories to the tabloid.

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Roman Abramovich wins first round of libel battle over Putin’s People book

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UK judge rules some passages convey a defamatory meaning, including claim Putin told him to buy Chelsea

A judge has ruled that a number of passages in the bestselling book Putin’s People convey a defamatory meaning against Roman Abramovich, including a claim that he bought Chelsea football club on Vladimir Putin’s orders.

The Russian oligarch said he was defamed by 26 specific passages in the book by the journalist Catherine Belton, all of which he says convey untrue meanings about him.

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Missing apostrophe in Facebook post lands NSW real estate agent in legal hot water

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Court declines to dismiss defamation case against Anthony Zadravic, who said failure to punctuate social media post was trivial

A real estate agent’s failure to use an apostrophe in a Facebook post could prove costly after a New South Wales court declined to dismiss a defamation case against him on the basis it was trivial.

Late on 22 October last year, Anthony Zadravic posted that another real estate agent was “selling multi million $ (sic) homes in Pearl Beach but can’t pay his employees superannuation”.

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Peter Dutton accuses Shane Bazzi of malice over abusive tweets in defamation case

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Defence minister cites activist’s tweet labelling him ‘fucken scumbag’ and ‘rape apologist’

Peter Dutton has accused refugee activist Shane Bazzi of showing malice, in the minister’s defamation suit, citing a tweet labelling him a “cunt” and a “fucken scumbag”.

Dutton is suing Bazzi over a tweet labelling him a “rape apologist”, making good on his threats to pursue social media users for allegedly false and defamatory statements.

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‘Hundreds’ of photos exist of Australian soldiers drinking from dead Afghan’s prosthetic leg, court told

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Ben Roberts-Smith’s lawyers in his defamation action say they have been overwhelmed by new tranche of documents including the images

There are “hundreds” of photos of Australian soldiers drinking from a prosthetic leg – allegedly taken from a slain Afghan – at an unauthorised bar at Australia’s military base in Afghanistan, a court has heard.

The existence of some photographs was previously known, and a handful had been widely broadcast and published. But the full extent of the photos from the Australian soldiers’ underground bar, the Fat Ladies’ Arms, was revealed before the federal court on Wednesday.

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The attorney general v the ABC

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Christian Porter is suing the ABC for defamation over an article reporting that an anonymous senior cabinet minister had been accused of rape in 1988. Porter later identified himself as the minister in question and strenuously denied the allegation. Paul Karp explores how this case could play out, and whether Porter can continue to do his job while fighting to clear his name

The crisis support and suicide prevention service Lifeline can contacted on 13 11 14. Support for sexual assault is available at 1800RESPECT.

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Rebekah Vardy suing Coleen Rooney for libel as last resort, court told

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Footballer’s wife seeking vindication after being accused of leaking stories to the Sun

Rebekah Vardy has brought a libel action against Coleen Rooney only as a last resort to “vindicate her reputation”, the high court was told at a preliminary hearing of the high-profile dispute between the wives of two England footballers.

Vardy has faced “widespread hostility and abuse” as a result of being accused of leaking details about the private life of her former friend, her barrister told the court on Thursday.

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Amber Heard ‘placing faith in justice’ as Depp lawyer calls her an abuser

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High court hears closing remarks in three-week libel case exposing couple’s relationship

Amber Heard has spoken of her trauma at reliving the breakup of her marriage, saying she is “placing her faith in British justice” as Johnny Depp’s lawyer branded her a “compulsive liar” and the “abuser” in the couple’s relationship.

As the libel action brought by Depp against the publishers of the Sun newspaper ended on Tuesday, Heard was booed and heckled by Depp fans who have gathered daily outside the high court in London for the proceedings over allegations that the Pirates of the Caribbean star had been violent towards her.

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Johnny Depp’s libel case against the Sun adjourned

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Actor is suing paper over claims he was violent and abusive toward ex-wife Amber Heard

Johnny Depp’s libel case against the Sun over allegations he was violent and abusive towards his ex-wife Amber Heard, which was due to begin on Monday, has been adjourned to a later date.

Mr Justice Nicol made the announcement at the high court on Friday. “I have reached the reluctant conclusion that the trial does have to be adjourned,” he said.

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