Gayle awarded $300,000 in damages in a defamation lawsuit
© Getty Images
|| Desk report ||
West Indies batsman Chris Gayle has been awarded 300,000 Australian Dollars in damages, 13 months after winning a defamation suit against Australian publisher Fairfax Media.
“The jury was misled in a way that prejudiced Fairfax and Fairfax did not get a fair trial,” Fairfax Media stated, reacting to the decision.
Gayle was accused of acting in an indecent manner in front of a female masseur during the 2015 Cricket Word Cup, which was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
Massage therapist Leanne Russell contacted Fairfax Media after Gayle was fined for making lewd remarks in an interview with a female reporter. She had said that Gayle had partially exposed himself to her in the West Indian dressing room during the team’s training session in Sydney.
A four-member jury panel in October 2017 had concluded that Fairfax Media had failed to establish any proof of Gayle behaving in such disapproving manner.
New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Lucy McCallum awarded him the compensation for defamation.
“In light of the jury's verdict I am required to assess damages on the basis that the allegation of indecent exposure was not true and that the attribution of such conduct was very damaging to Mr. Gayle's reputation,” Justice McCullum said on Monday while delivering her verdict.
