HER MAJESTY'S ATTORNEY-GENERAL IN AND FOR THE STATE OF NEW SOUTH WALES v JOHN FAIRFAX AND SONS LIMITED [1988] NSWCA 63

HER MAJESTY'S ATTORNEY-GENERAL IN AND FOR THE STATE OF NEW SOUTH WALES v JOHN FAIRFAX AND SONS LIMITED

SUPREME COURT OF NEW SOUTH WALES COURT OF APPEAL

Hope, SAMUELS and CLARKE JJA 24 June 1988, 24 June 1988

[1988] NSWCA 63

Contempt — penalty — publication concerning accused person during trial. ORDERS (1) Opponent to pay fine of $20,000 within 14 days; (2) Opponent to pay claimant's costs of proceedings.

Hope, Samuels and Clarke JJA In these proceedings the opponent, John Fairfax & Sons Limited, was charged with contempt in relation to the publication on 16 March 1987 of an article in the Sun newspaper concerning the trial of a number of people, including Michael Patrick Murphy, for the murder of Anita Lorraine Cobby, and for other offences. The particular matter in the article which led to the charge of contempt was a description of Michael Patrick Murphy as a prison escapee.

The opponent strongly defended the proceedings. On 21 April 1988 the Court found that it was guilty and made a declaration accordingly, and reserved the question of penalty for further consideration. That is the matter now before the Court.

On behalf of the opponent affidavits have been filed by J. Benaud, the editor of the paper at the time, Maxwell John Fitzgibbon, who was the journalist who wrote the part of the article which included the contemptuous matter, and Adrian Milford Deamer, the solicitor who gave legal advice in respect of another part of the article.

It appears from these affidavits that Mr Fitzgibbon was a journalist with a long experience in reporting crime and trials and he thought that the plea of guilty by one of the accused, John Raymond Travers, to the charges was a matter which should be given a considerable amount of publicity, being a matter of great public interest and newsworthiness, and he accordingly dictated an article over the telephone immediately in order to have it published that afternoon in the newspaper.