Woman sues newspaper over ghost story

A newspaper article with a headline about a witness seeing a ghost conveyed the meaning that she was "demented" but did not defame her, a jury has decided. The New South Wales Supreme Court jury of four took about an hour to conclude that Therese Mallik had not established she had been defamed.Ms Mallik had taken action in the New South Wales Supreme Court against Hunter Valley Independent Newspapers Pty Ltd – publishers of the Cessnock Independent – and its managing director, proprietor and editor, William McGeown.The front page Cessnock Independent article, published in October 2005, was headlined: "Witness sees a ghost over Cremator".The story referred to a Land and Environment Court hearing about the possibility of increasing the number of bodies burnt at the St Patricks crematorium in the Hunter region.In the article, Ms Mallik was described as the "leader of the Nulkaba Residence Group against the cremator".It said that in her evidence to the environment court "she claimed to have seen a ghostlike figure in the clouds".

Yesterday, her barrister, David Caspersonn, told the four-person jury the article conveyed three defamatory meanings, including that Ms Mallik was "demented".While the jurors agreed it had that meaning, they decided it was not defamatory.They also rejected Mr Caspersonn's submission that the article conveyed the meaning Ms Mallik had given evidence that was "worthless, absurd and lacking in any credibility".

View: Full Article | Source: news.com.au