Qld ex-principal wins defamation retrial

A former Cairns school principal has been granted a fresh defamation trial against two parents who complained about his response to claims their daughter was being bullied.

Anthony Woolley and Janet Kencian asked then-Trinity Anglican School principal Christopher Daunt Watney to investigate allegations their daughter had been called a "black retard" by the students.

Unsatisfied with the findings of a number of reviews carried out by the school and Anglican Church, the parents wrote a letter to the Education Department in June 2012 entitled: "Repeated and Systemic Failures of Duty of Care in response to bullying at Trinity Anglican School".

Mr Watney sued Mr Woolley and Ms Kencian over the publication of the letter, saying it defamed him by damaging his good reputation.

However, last year a Cairns District Court jury found the letter was not defamatory, and Mr Watney was ordered to pay costs.

Mr Watney took the matter to the Court of Appeal in Brisbane in April this year, where his lawyers argued the jury had failed to properly consider aspects of the alleged defamation.

In a written judgment published on Tuesday, the Court of Appeal agreed, and ordered a fresh trial.