Kidman snapper loses defamation case

Sydney (ANI): Sydney paparazzo Jamie Fawcett has lost the defamation case against Fairfax Media, involving actress Nicole Kidman. Fawcett had sued Fairfax Media over a 2005 article in The Sun-Herald that stated he was "undoubtedly Sydney's most inventive and most disliked freelance photographer" and was possessed of a "determination to wreak havoc on Kidman's private life".

New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Simpson ruled out the charges and said that she "emphatically preferred" the testimony of Kidman and her employees John Manning and Malcolm Carter than the testimony by Fawcett and fellow paparazzo Ben McDonald. "While I found Mr Manning to be a credible witness, I did not take the same view of Mr Fawcett or Mr McDonald," Sydney Morning Herald quoted Justice Simpson, as saying in judgment.

"Each was a witness on whose evidence I am not prepared to place any reliance," she added. She has also ruled out Fawcett's testimony that he was not the person who placed a listening device on Kidman's property in 2005. "I am satisfied it was Mr Fawcett who placed the listening device," she stated.

Kidman had told the court that the snapper chased her car across Sydney in 2005 at such speeds that made her crouch on the back seat, tearful and frightened of crashing. However, Fawcett said that he was "very disappointed" with the decision and would be appealing again. He has been asked to pay the media company's costs that comes out to be a high six-figure sum.