Shandee Blackburn murder: Mum’s defamation trial a step closer

Vicki Blackburn is headed towards a trial in which she will seek to show her daughter’s former boyfriend stabbed her to death and got away with it.

Vicki Blackburn faces a defamation trial over other people’s Facebook posts. Picture: David Clark

Murder victim Shandee Blackburn’s mother, Vicki, is heading towards a trial in a defamation case in which she will seek to show her daughter’s former boyfriend John Peros brutally stabbed her to death and got away with it.

Ms Blackburn wanted to stop Mr Peros’s Federal Court legal claim against her in its tracks by arguing that the former champion amateur boxer suffered no serious harm from posts on the Justice for Shandee Facebook page.

Mr Peros is suing Ms Blackburn over three posts by other people on the web page in 2022 that are said to variously refer to him as a murdering sociopath, control freak and narcissist.

Shandee Blackburn with John Peros.

Two years earlier, Coroner David O’Connell had found that Mr Peros killed Blackburn, 23, in Mackay on Queensland’s central coast in 2013.

He had previously been acquitted by a jury of her murder. He ­ denies any involvement.

If the Facebook posts did not seriously harm Mr Peros, his defamation claim against Ms Blackburn collapses.

Federal Court judge Roger Derrington has decided against holding a separate hearing on the issue, taking the case a step closer to a full trial. If it proceeds, the two sides are facing what will effectively be a month-long murder trial with combined legal costs conservatively estimated to be well in excess of $1m.

John Peros in his boxing days, ahead of the National Titles in Mackay. Picture: Lee Constable

Justice Derrington said in a published judgment that Vicki Blackburn denied many of the allegations in the claim. “As to the issue of serious harm, she denies any of the first, second or third matters complained of caused Mr Peros serious harm,” he said. “She does so on the basis he had no reputation to lose, and one of the particulars relied upon is the coroner’s report and its findings.

“Further … Ms Blackburn alleges that the imputation Mr Peros is a murderer, in that he murdered Shandee Blackburn, is substantially true. She also asserts that other of the imputations are contextually true.”

A full trial would be “substantial” and it “may be that a four-week hearing will be needed”, he said. “Ms Blackburn’s pleas of truth and contextual truth have the consequence that a pivotal question at the hearing will be whether Mr Peros did, in fact, and on the balance of probabilities, murder Shandee Blackburn.”

The “nature and scope” of a separate hearing on the “serious harm” issue was unclear, could be substantial itself and might result in no cost savings, he said. There was also a looming ­battle on whether a coroner’s report was admissible in the proceedings.

Vicki Blackburn and eldest daughter Shannah Blackburn appealing to the public for support at Mackay District Police Headquarters shortly after Shandee’s murder. Photographer: Liam Kidston.

Mr Peros has a defamation claim against Shannah Blackburn, Nationwide News as publishers of The Australian and Hedley Thomas in Queensland’s Supreme Court over comments by Blackburn’s sister on the Shandee’s Story podcast.

He has a third defamation claim against journalism student Isaac Irons as administrator of The Australian’s official Shandee’s Story podcast Facebook group. A fourth claim is against the state of Queensland for alleged malicious prosecution and wrongful imprisonment.