Lawyer Gina Edwards awarded $150k in defamation suit over celebrity dog

A barrister has scored a victory after A Current Affair told “atrocious lies” about her in a broadcast that implied she had stolen a famous dog.

A decorated barrister has been awarded $150,000 after a court found she was defamed by A Current Affair broadcasts that implied she stole an Instagram-famous cavoodle and exploited him for her own gain.

Gina Edwards appeared in the Federal Court on Friday for the judgement in her high-profile legal battle with Nine Network and journalist Steve Marshall over two 2021 broadcasts and an article.

She was accompanied by her prized pooch Oscar, who wore tiny barrister robes that were later replaced with a bandana emblazoned with the word “Justice”.

On Friday, Justice Michael Wigney found the former US state attorney for Florida had been defamed by A Current Affair’s coverage of her custody war with Oscar’s co-owner Mark Gillespie.

Gina Edwards and her cavoodle Oscar. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Monique Harmer

The celebrity dog had a costume change after the win. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Monique Harmer

He determined the two television broadcasts in mid-2021 and subsequent online articles had falsely suggested Ms Edwards had stolen the dog and exploited him for her own financial gain.

The Federal Court judge said the broadcasts were “sensationalist, if not hyperbolic” and “painted Ms Edwards in a most unfavourable light”.

“Mr Marshall’s sarcastic and pun-laden commentary throughout the broadcasts mostly sided with Mr Gillespie’s version of events and disparaged and demeaned Ms Edwards,” he said.

Nine had argued their coverage did not convey the defamatory imputations and maintained it was substantially true that Ms Edwards had stolen Oscar.

Justice Wigney dismissed the network’s defences and found the publications had given Ms Edwards “a degree of notoriety” and a “negative profile”.

“I have concluded that all but one of the imputations were carried by one or more of the publications,” he said.

“The publishers have not discharged their burden of proving that those imputations

were substantially true.”

The Federal Court Justice ordered Nine to pay Ms Edwards $150,000 in aggravated damages.

Ms Edwards was defamed by the publications, a court found. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Outside court, Ms Edwards beamed as she declared she was “very very happy with the outcome”.

“(The publications) destroyed my entire life for the monetisation of some pretty atrocious lies about me,” she said while clutching Oscar.

“It’s over now and we won. Justice has been done.”

Ms Edwards emphasised it was “never about the money”, but instead about holding Mr Marshall and A Current Affair accountable “for what they did to me”.

She and her husband now have full-time custody of Oscar, with whom they will be celebrating on Friday night.

The court previously heard Mr Gillespie bought the cavoodle in 2016 and registered Ms Edward’s husband Ken Flavell as the secondary owner, allowing the trio to act as a family for the beloved pet.

Yet a rift formed between the friends in May 2018 when Mr Gillespie left Oscar in the care of his relatives in the NSW Southern Highlands while he was away working as a cruise ship director.

In July that year, the court was told Ms Edwards and Mr Gillespie had an argument about Oscar’s care arrangements during which he allegedly threatened to permanently withhold the pet.

Ms Edwards said she was ‘very happy’ with the result. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Monique Harmer

Ms Edwards told the court Mr Gillespie told her to “keep the f***ing dog” during the fight.

However, he gave evidence that he had added the words “for now” at the end of the heated directive.

Oscar was permanently signed over to Ms Edwards and Mr Flavell in November 2021, after the broadcasts had been published.

At the height of his fame, the Instagram-famous pooch had more than 10,000 followers who fawned over photos such as one of him wearing a tuxedo for an appearance in an opera.

He also appeared on a reality television show called Pooch Perfect in 2019.