In a historic state judgment, Robyn Greeuw of Bunbury, Western Australia, was ordered by a magistrate to pay damages to the amount of A$12,500 after a December 2012 Facebook post was deemed to be defamatory.
The monetary sum will compensate Ms Greeuw's estranged husband, Miro Dabrowski, after the social media update accused him of nearly two decades of "domestic violence and abuse".
The exact wording of the post was: "Separated from Miro Dabrowski after 18 years of suffering domestic violence and abuse. Now fighting the system to keep my children safe". Ms Greeuw, who legally represented herself, stated in court that she was not responsible for the post, as she reported that she is not technologically savvy enough.
She conceded that she entered an incomplete statement like that which appeared on Facebook, but did not upload it—the defendant proposed that the screenshot that was used as evidence was the work of a computer hacker.
However, as part of her defence, Ms Greeuw also refuted the claim of defamation, referring to legislation that permits the publication of such content if it is substantiated. She then proceeded to provide a basis for the Facebook post before the court, with the abuse allegedly beginning after her marriage to Mr Dabrowski in 1992. Although police served the husband with an interim violence restraining order when the relationship ended in 2012, Dabrowski denied the claims of abuse and violence.
Western Australian District Court Judge Michael Bowden announced that he had found inconsistencies and issues with the cases presented by both parties, but ultimately believed that Ms Greeuw was "not a credible witness", and that the post led to "personal distress, humiliation and hurt and harm to his reputation". Ms Greeuw had presented evidence of a single 2010 incident to back up her abuse claims.
While a New South Wales former student was ordered to pay $105,000 in damages to a teacher in March 2014 for defamation on social media, this was the first time that such a ruling was handed down in Western Australia.