Terrence Flowers to sue Seven after being accused of abducting Cleo Smith
Terrance Flowers, who was wrongly accused by Channel 7 for abducting four-year-old girl Cleo Smith, launches legal action.
A man wrongly named by Channel 7 as the alleged kidnapper of four-year-old Cleo Smith is taking action in WA’s Supreme Court.
Seven News named and published Facebook images of Terrance Flowers, also known as Terrence Kelly, on November 3 only to later learn he was not the man in question of the Carnarvon girl’s disappearance.
The station was forced to issue a swift apology and admit the photos of Flowers should not have been used.
Flowers, from Karratha in WA, has engaged O’Brien Criminal & Civil Solicitors to issue proceedings against Seven after they distributed the incorrect information about him on television, social media sites Facebook, Twitter and Seven’s news website.
In a statement issued by his lawyers they said the situation had been “devastating” for their client: “He had had nothing to do with it and was never a suspect in the case”.
“Being identified as responsible for her abduction and disappearance was extremely distressing to him and his family,” the statement said.
“It is of great concern to Mr. Flowers and his family that a major media company would proceed with a story of this magnitude without being absolutely certain as to its accuracy.”
The incorrect information was disseminated both nationally and internationally and Flowers’ lawyers said it resulted in him being hospitalised with a panic attack.
Smith was found alive on November 3 and 18 days after she went missing from a Blowholes campsite, 80 km north of Carnarvon, in the middle of the night.
Terence Darrell Kelly, 36, was charged with two offences including one count of forcibly taking a child under 16.
Barristers Sue Chrysanthou SC and Louise Goodchild will also represent Flowers in the legal proceedings.
Channel 7 would not comment.
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