December 11th 2024.
In a recent court ruling, it was determined that a social media post about an incident involving former football player Jarryd Hayne was not defamatory. The post in question alleged that one of Hayne's supporters, Mina Greiss, had spat at the woman accusing Hayne of rape as she left court. However, the Federal Court overturned the decision and found that the post was not defamatory.
This all stems from an incident that occurred outside of a courthouse in May of 2021, after Hayne's initial sentencing for the alleged rape. Hayne was originally sentenced to more than five years in jail, but was later released after successfully appealing the conviction. In the midst of all this, Seven Network journalist Leonie Ryan took a photo of Greiss and posted it on Twitter and Facebook, accusing him of staring down the victim and spitting in her direction.
Initially, Seven Network was ordered to pay Greiss almost $38,000 in damages after a defamation trial. This was despite the judge accepting that Greiss had indeed stared and pointed at the alleged victim, as well as admitting to spitting in her direction. However, Seven successfully defended the Tweet and a news article with similar claims. The only ruling that stood was that the Facebook post was defamatory.
In the recent Federal Court ruling, Justice Anna Katzmann stated that the post falsely reported Greiss as spitting "at" the woman, when in reality he had spat in a garden bed in her direction. This, coupled with the fact that Greiss's behavior outside of court was deemed "disgraceful" by the initial judge, led to the decision that the post was not defamatory. Justice Michael Lee, along with two other Federal Court Justices, agreed that there was no substantial difference between the allegations made in the Facebook post and Greiss's actions.
In light of this ruling, it was also determined that Greiss's cross-claim challenging the findings in the initial trial, including his denial of spitting in the direction of the woman, was dismissed. He was ordered to pay the legal costs for Seven Network's appeal. To stay updated on all the latest news, sports, politics, and weather, be sure to download the 9NEWS app available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play.
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