Geoffrey Rush sex accuser to stand by claims

The actress at the centre of a ­sexual harassment complaint against Geoffrey Rush has agreed to testify in defamation proceedings.

Australian actor Geoffrey Rush is at the centre of a ­sexual harassment complain. Picture: AAP

The actress at the centre of a ­sexual harassment complaint against Geoffrey Rush has broken her silence and agreed to testify in defence of The Daily Telegraph in defamation proceedings brought by the Oscar-winning actor.

The Federal Court heard yesterday that Eryn Jean Norvill, an actor who co-starred with Rush in the Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear, had provided a statement in defence of The Daily Telegraph. It is the first time Norvill has spoken publicly about the matter.

Rush, 67, is suing the Sydney paper’s publisher Nationwide News (publisher of The Weekend Australian) and journalist Jonathon Moran over a series of ­stories published last year, which alleged the actor had been investigated for “inappropriate conduct” during the play that ran from November 2015 to January 2016.

The actor has vehemently ­denied the allegations and claims the stories defamed him by portraying him as a “sexual predator” and a “pervert”.

A statement sworn by Norvill and filed to the court as part of an affidavit on Tuesday forms the basis of the newspaper’s attempt to amend its defence to include the truth defence.

But Rush’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou opposed the amendment, describing the changes as “too little, too late”.

She argued there were inconsistencies between the actor’s statement and the newspaper’s original defence.

“Given your honour saw the defence, heard the defence and heard Mr Blackburn (defence barrister Tom Blackburn SC) stand up here and say repeatedly ‘she told him to stop and he didn’t’ — now the case is the exact opposite,” Ms Chrysanthou said. “The complainant says she told him to stop and he did.

“Same with the toilet. The statement we now have, ‘didn’t follow me into the toilet’. I mean, what is my client to do with this?”

But Nationwide News def­ence barrister Alec Leopold SC told the court the company had “acted without delay” in its application for the truth defence, an amendment it filed “as soon” as Ms Norvill came forward with her statement.

The Daily Telegraph has ­argued in the wake of the #MeToo movement and the unearthing of widespread sexual misconduct and harassment within the entertainment industry, the allegations against Rush were “matters of proper and legitimate public interest”.