A former teacher at St Edwards' College was found to have libelled the college's bursar by means of an email she circulated to 47 persons.
Magistrate Francesco Depasquale condemned Francesca Stivala to pay €1,000 to the bursar, Sandro Bruno, by way of libel damages.
Mr Bruno told the court that in his capacity as bursar of the college he administered its accounts department and was also responsible for contracts of employment for all college employees. Ms Stivala had been engaged as a temporary teacher for scholastic year 2011/2012, with her employment terminating on August 31, 2012.
However, after the contract terminated, Ms Stivala requested payment for September 2012. After her request was rejected by the college, she had recourse to the Labour Office which, in turn, found her claim to be unjustified.
In November 2012, Ms Stivala circulated an email to all the 47 staff at St Edwards College claiming that the college's accounting department was paying teachers on a one-year contract for 11 months. This was described by Ms Stivala as "creative skills" on the part of the accounts department and also as a "gross mistreatment of temporary teachers".
The court heard that together with the email, Ms Stivala had attached a photo of two persons, one of whom was a man, who was portrayed as saying "ghax ha nghidlek - I mess with people for a living".
Mr Bruno claimed that the email and photo were libellous in his regard, for the photo was clearly recognisable as being of him and of his deputy bursar.
Ms Stivala admitted to the court that she had sent the email to warn other teachers who might find themselves in her position. She also admitted to attaching the image which she had created from a photograph.
Magistrate Depasquale said that Mr Bruno was clearly identifiable from the photograph and added that the academic staff at the college had been shocked by the email they received.
The court added that an email could be libellous and that the email and image posted by Ms Stivala were libellous in Mr Bruno's regard.