Jury deliberates over Chris Gayle, Fairfax Media case
BREAKING: West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle has won his defamation case against Fairfax Media, over newspaper articles claiming he’d intentionally exposed himself to a masseuse.
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WEST INDIES cricketer Chris Gayle has won his defamation case against Fairfax Media, over newspaper articles claiming he’d intentionally exposed himself to a female masseuse.
A NSW Supreme Court jury on Monday found Fairfax had not established that the claims were “substantially true”.
It also found the media organisation was actuated by malice when it published the stories.
Gayle had sued for defamation stating Fairfax falsely claimed he intentionally exposed his genitalia to, and indecently propositioned, Leanne Russell in the West Indies dressing room during a Sydney training session at the 2015 World Cup.
Supporters of Gayle patted him on the back as the jury delivered its decision after less than two hours of deliberation.
Fairfax defended the article on two bases, including qualified privilege and that the allegations were true.
The jury rejected that defence.
Fairfax also pleaded the defence of qualified privilege, where a publisher must show the defamatory articles were in the public interest and that it acted reasonably.
The defence can be defeated by malice, meaning the articles were published for an improper purpose.
The jury found malice had been established, knocking out the defence of qualified privilege.
On Monday, one week since the case began in the NSW Supreme Court, Justice Lucy McCallum sent the jurors out after giving them legal directions on issues including the defence of truth put forward by Fairfax.
Gayle and teammate Dwayne Smith, who was in the dressing room at the time, both testified that the cricketer did not expose himself.
But Ms Russell said Gayle was wearing a towel that he pulled out and down, saying “is this what you are looking for?”.
Fairfax had admitted the articles convey the defamatory meanings put forward by Gayle.
But it contended the published claims were true.