Jay Kinglsey aka Jay Gill to pay $54k in defamation case
A woman has been forced to cough up a huge sum after posting another woman’s nude photo on Facebook and describing her as a “fat wh-re” in a series of “vile” social media posts.
Canberra Star
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A woman who distributed nude photos of her boyfriend’s ex on Facebook and went on a campaign of online and real-life harassment, including chasing her around a supermarket calling her a “fat whore” has been ordered to pay more than $50,000 in defamation damages.
Jay Gill, previously known as Jay Kingsley, posted a nude “revenge porn” photo of her partner’s ex-girlfriend in a Facebook messenger conversation in November 2017.
The Canberra Star has chosen not to name the woman as she is also the victim of a revenge porn offence.
The woman had shared the “tit pic” with her former partner thinking only he would see it, but Ms Gill obtained the photo and distributed it to around 80 other people, along with a description of the woman as a “fat whore with her ugly nipple hanging out”.
Despite a “sort-of” apology, Ms Gill then posted what ACT Chief Magistrate Lorainne Walker described as a “running commentary of irrational vitriol” about the woman.
The woman sued, and her legal team – Canberra firm Aulich and Sydney barrister Josie Dempster – successfully argued the photograph and caption damaged her reputation.
Ms Walker found the photo damaged the woman’s reputation by portraying her as a “whore and a slut”.
Ms Walker also found Ms Gill’s vitriolic posts portrayed the woman as “a fat whore, a slut, neglectful of her children, an unfit mother and a person who bore children by different men in order to exploit the welfare system”.
As soon as the photo was posted, the woman was contacted by friends who saw it, including her butcher, Ken, who said: “Do you know there is a nude pic of you doing the rounds?”
The woman gave evidence at a hearing earlier this month that she was so embarrassed by her butcher seeing the revenge porn that she has not returned since.
A total stranger also sent the woman a message saying: “Hey I don’t even know you, but thought you might like to know Jay Kingsley is sending nude pictures of your titts (sic) to me! No idea why!”
Ms Walker said the publication of the woman’s topless photo amounted to a “public scandal”.
Ms Gill unsuccessfully defended the defamation claim, arguing the publication of the nude photo was “trivial” and unlikely to cause the woman harm, and that her comments were an honest opinion.
Ms Gill also failed to attend the final hearing of the case earlier this month.
The woman had become anxious, withdrawn and paranoid since Ms Gill published the photo, had trouble sleeping and had been prescribed anti-anxiety medication.
Ms Gill was in 2019 jailed for threatening to kill the woman, having repeatedly threatened her in public, including chasing her and one of her four children around a Canberra supermarket yelling: “fat whore, I’m gonna kill you”.
Ms Walker said Ms Gill’s campaign of harassment after she published the photo was “inherently quite vile” and, in total, awarded Ms Edwards $54,000.