Court loss for Jarryd Hayne backer who spat at rape accuser

A court has thrown out findings one of Jarryd Hayne's supporters was defamed by a social media post that he spat at the footballer's rape accuser as she left court.

Today, the Federal Court overturned an earlier decision that the Seven Network and one of its journalists had defamed Mina Greiss, over an incident outside Newcastle Courthouse in May 2021, following Hayne's sentence for the alleged rape.

Hayne was initially sentenced to more than five years in jail, but was released after having his conviction overturned on appeal.

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Seven was initially ordered to pay Greiss $37,940 following a defamation trial, despite a judge accepting he had stared and pointed at Hayne's alleged victim as she left court and that he spat in her direction.

Seven Network journalist Leonie Ryan snapped a photo of Greiss and posted on Twitter and Facebook, accusing him of "staring the victim down" and spitting towards her.

Seven successfully defended the Tweet, as well as a news article with the same assertions however the court ruled that the Facebook post was defamatory.

Federal Court Justice Anna Katzmann found the post falsely reported Greiss spat "at" the woman, when in fact he had spat in a garden bed in the victim's direction.

Justice Michael Lee, along with two other Federal Court Justices, today ruled there was no substantial difference between what was alleged in the Facebook post and Greiss' actions.

"The conclusion the spit was for the complainant or directed to her is sufficient to justify the substantial truth of the imputations," Justice Lee said.

"Mr Greiss spat at a rape complainant outside court."

Justice Lee said the finding by the primary judge that Greiss's behaviour was disgraceful was also correct and therefore Ryan's post was not defamatory.

The court also dismissed a cross-claim by Greiss challenging findings in the initial trial, including that he had spat in the direction of the woman, which he denied.

He was ordered to pay the Seven Network's legal cost for the appeal.

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