A man who sent defamatory messages about his former partner to her new partner and friends, has been ordered to pay €3,000 in libel damages.
After the couple split, Conrad Bajada, the former partner of Sylvana Brannon, had embarked upon a series of text messages when he found out that the woman had entered a new relationship. He had sworn to “do all it takes" to destroy the woman who had been his partner for 20 months.
In one message sent to the woman's current partner, Mr Bajada had said that in the past she had made rape allegations not only about him but also in regard of one of her teachers and former husband. The allegations were firmly denied by the woman in court.
“When it’s too late do not come and ask for my help. Ure another victim,” he had warned in one of his messages to the woman's present-day partner.
The court also heard how the man had even begun to contact Ms Brannon's friends on Facebook, posting friend requests and urging them to hear his side of the story, telling one of these persons via Messenger, that his former partner was "double-faced", "sweet-natured in public but a devil in private".
Messages in a similar vein were still ongoing when Ms Brannon decided to file libel proceedings claiming that the content of the SMSs and Messenger posts were defamatory in her regard.
In court, Mr Bajada had at first refused to have a lawyer only resorting to legal assistance upon advice by the court. Nor did he bring forward evidence to rebut the claims filed against him, save for two text messages, leading the court to conclude that his defence was not legally sound.
The court, presided over by Magistrate Francesco Depasquale, also observed that, contrary to what Mr Bajada had told the woman’s present partner, she had not reported him to the police for rape but for harassment and divulging photos and videos with a sexual content.
On the basis of all evidence produced, the court upheld the woman’s claims, declared the said messages defamatory and ordered the respondent to pay €3,000 by way of damages.