Private school principal’s costly defamation loss

An elite private school’s principal has lost a defamation lawsuit over a social media post which she claimed implied she abused children.

A private school principal has lost a defamation lawsuit against a high-profile community activist over a Facebook post which she claimed suggested she was covering up alleged child abuse, court documents state.

Dubbo’s Central West Leadership Academy principal, Mandi Randell, launched civil proceedings in the NSW District Court in August 2021, seeking damages from Karina McLachlain.

Ms McLachlain was the administrator and moderator of the Dubbo Wellington Thumbs Up Thumbs Down Facebook page, which had about 2,600 members at the time.

The legal action relates to a comment and image Ms McLachlain allegedly shared to the Facebook page.

“About a week ago, I received this threat from Mandi Rendel’s [sic] lawyer. I deleted the post but I cannot support the cover up of child abuse. As a community, we must stand up for the children who have been traumatised,” Court documents state that she wrote.

Ms Randell claimed the post carried defamatory imputations, including that she had abused children and caused them trauma, engaged in child abuse and sought to cover it up.

Mandi Randell, Central West Leadership Academy principal, has lost a defamation case in the NSW District Court. Picture: Supplied

According to the statement of claim, the allegedly defamatory material caused Ms Randell to be hated and suffer serious harm, ridicule, contempt, reputational damage and injured feelings.

The principal claimed Ms McLachlain acted with reckless indifference to the truth in what was an ongoing campaign against Ms Randell, according to the statement of claim.

Ms Randell said the matter was “viewed and downloaded including by persons unknown to the plaintiff” and that “the content of the Facebook Post was widely disseminated and discussed among persons who know the plaintiff, in particular persons residing in or near Dubbo”, adding that “further particulars of publication “will be provided after discovery and interrogatories”.

But Judge Judith Gibson found the particulars in the statement of claim did not explain what the “harm” was, “let alone how it is ‘serious’ either in the past or future”.

Her honour also said it was not clear “how the serious harm arises from the publication”.

Judge Gibson found the plaintiff served an “invalid concerns notice” which failed to answer particulars satisfactorily “and failed to provide proper particulars in her statement of claim”.

The elite private school principal had her proceedings struck out after it was found she served an ‘invalid concerns notice. Picture: Supplied

“It is the plaintiff’s failure to provide essential particulars for her case which (apart from serious harm) she would always have been obliged to provide, not the level of difficulty, that is the problem,” she said.

Judge Gibson struck out the concerns notice and dismissed the proceedings, and ordered Ms Randell pay Ms McLachlain’s legal costs.

Ms McLachlain said the decision brought a “welcome end” to the case, which was “costly and stressful” for her.

“Although Ms Randell made many legal threats against me if I did not agree to her terms, I felt that defending myself was the only right option. I’m so glad I stuck to my guns,” she said.

Editor’s Note: Clarifying that Ms Randell lost the defamation proceedings on procedural grounds and denies the substance of the Facebook post.