Restaurateur loses libel case

A court yesterday threw out a libel suit filed by restaurateur Charles Spiteri against columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

In November 2006, Mr Spiteri filed his writ claiming he had been libelled by an article written by Ms Caruana Galizia and published in The Malta Independent on Sunday on October 22, 2006.

According to Mr Spiteri the words "... that nasty little man, Charles Spiteri, who cooks in his spare time" were libellous in his regard.

Ms Caruana Galizia pleaded that the article was not libellous and that it constituted opinion and criticism, which was acceptable in a democratic society.

The court heard that the article had dealt with a number of issues including illegal immigration. Ms Caruana Galizia had also mentioned Norman Lowell, Arlette Baldacchino, Martin Degiorgio and Paul Salamone in this context. She had then referred to "... that nasty little man, Charles Spiteri, who cooks in his spare time". Ms Caruana Galizia had referred to these persons, who harboured opinions against illegal immigration, as "sad losers and a bunch of nutters".

Magistrate Michael Mallia took into consideration the fact that Ms Caruana Galizia had based her conclusions after she had seen Mr Spiteri participate in Xarabank in October 2005. The court noted that Mr Spiteri had raised rather aggressive arguments against illegal immigration.

The court said that while Mr Spiteri had the right to air his opinions he had surpassed the limits and had used aggression against persons whose opinions differed to his own.

While Mr Spiteri might have been motivated by misguided patriotism, he had no right to ridicule other persons on the programme. Ms Caruana Galizia had used the same attitude when dealing with Mr Spiteri in her article.

Once Mr Spiteri had exposed himself to the public on a television programme he had therefore also exposed himself to comments about his behaviour on the programme.

The court, therefore, concluded that the article was not libellous.