“As for the people who are constantly threatening ‘legal steps’ because my stories have exposed their true nature to their international donors, NGOs and state actors, here is @WestAfricaWeek’s address. If you don’t sue me, you are all bastards. I double dare you…”
“Then why don’t you sue me for categorically stating that you had sex multiple times with @CNorthcott1 in the course of producing that documentary, and that this formed the sole basis of your fraudulent “career”?...”
“I completely stand by my story and I expect your ‘faithful husband’ client to sit down opposite me in court. If you have nothing further beyond more non-fact-checked claims, fatuous arguments and unreasonable demands, I encourage you to take the next legal steps forthwith. I have spent close to a decade practising high risk investigative journalism in one of the world's most dangerous places to be a journalist. If you imagine that I can be bullied or intimidated by poorly done and obvious attempts at SLAPP litigation like this, then I enjoin you to see me in court where we can test that theory out.”
“(1) The court may proceed with a trial in the absence of a party …”
‘Such actions involve a money award which may put the plaintiff in a purely financial sense in a much stronger position than he was before the wrong. Not merely can he recover the estimated sum of his past and future losses, but, in case the libel, driven underground, emerges from its lurking place at some future date, he must be able to point to a sum awarded by a jury sufficient to convince a bystander of the baselessness of the charge.’
“[I]t is very well established that in cases where the damages are at large the jury (or the judge if the award is left to him) can take into account the motives and conduct of the defendant where they aggravate the injury done to the plaintiff. There may be malevolence or spite or the manner of committing the wrong may be such as to injure the plaintiff’s proper feelings of dignity and pride. These are matters which the jury can take into account in assessing the appropriate compensation. The conduct of a defendant which may often be regarded as aggravating the injury to the plaintiff’s feelings, so as to support a claim for ‘aggravated’ damages, includes a failure to make any or any sufficient apology and withdrawal; a repetition of the libel; conduct calculated to deter the claimant from proceeding; persistence, by way of a prolonged or hostile cross-examination of the claimant, or in turgid speeches to the jury, in a plea of justification which is bound to fail; the general conduct either of the preliminaries or of the trial itself in a manner calculated to attract wide publicity; and persecution of the plaintiff by other means. While there is some authority for the proposition that persistence in a bona fide plea of a truth or an opinion defence can of itself aggravate damages, it has been said repeatedly that it is wrong in principle to award aggravated damages solely because of the bona fide persistence with such a plea, provided it is conducted reasonably. Aggravated damages have on occasion been awarded (or identified) as a sum separate from general compensatory damages. However, in Lachaux v Independent Print Ltd ([2021] EWHC 1797 (QB) [2022] EMLR 2, [227]) Nicklin J described the practice as ‘unnecessary … generally unwise’, for the following reasons: ‘The Court’s task is to assess the proper level of compensation, taking into account all the relevant factors, which include any elements of aggravation. If, as the authorities recognise, the assessment of libel damages can never be mechanical or scientific, attributing a specific figure to something as nebulous as ‘aggravation’ has an unconvincing foundation. Worse, as it would represent the imposition of a clearly identified additional sum of money, it risks the appearance of being directly attributed to the conduct of the defendant. That comes perilously close to looking like a penalty. For these reasons, I consider the better course is to fix a single award which, faithful to the principles by which damages in defamation are assessed, is solely to compensate the Claimant. The award can properly reflect any additional hurt and distress caused to the Claimant by the conduct of the Defendants. To speak in terms of whether a claimant is ‘entitled’ to an award of aggravated damages is misleading. Every claimant who succeeds in a claim for defamation is ‘entitled’ to an award of damages which may reflect any proved elements of aggravation. The real question is whether the claimant can demonstrate, by admissible evidence which the court accepts, that the damage to his/her reputation and/or his/her distress or upset has been increased by conduct of the defendant.’” ‘The Court’s task is to assess the proper level of compensation, taking into account all the relevant factors, which include any elements of aggravation. If, as the authorities recognise, the assessment of libel damages can never be mechanical or scientific, attributing a specific figure to something as nebulous as ‘aggravation’ has an unconvincing foundation. Worse, as it would represent the imposition of a clearly identified additional sum of money, it risks the appearance of being directly attributed to the conduct of the defendant. That comes perilously close to looking like a penalty. For these reasons, I consider the better course is to fix a single award which, faithful to the principles by which damages in defamation are assessed, is solely to compensate the Claimant. The award can properly reflect any additional hurt and distress caused to the Claimant by the conduct of the Defendants. To speak in terms of whether a claimant is ‘entitled’ to an award of aggravated damages is misleading. Every claimant who succeeds in a claim for defamation is ‘entitled’ to an award of damages which may reflect any proved elements of aggravation. The real question is whether the claimant can demonstrate, by admissible evidence which the court accepts, that the damage to his/her reputation and/or his/her distress or upset has been increased by conduct of the defendant.’”
“…if there has been any kind of high-handed, oppressive, insulting or contumelious behaviour by the defendant which increases the mental pain and suffering caused by the defamation and may constitute injury to the plaintiff’s pride and self-confidence, these are proper elements to be taken into account in a case where damages are at large.”
“I cannot overstate how horrendous this ordeal has been for me and my family. Unfortunately, many people, if not most, have a ‘no smoke without fire’ attitude towards allegations of this nature. It does not help that some people think that legal proceedings are just a way to cover up wrongdoing. Even now that I have a judgment in my favour, I have no closure and no real vindication from the false and defamatory statements Mr Hundeyin has made against me.”
“15. Through my work as a journalist, I have covered many stories of women bravely speaking up against predatory men. I am dedicated to telling such stories and my reporting has contributed to important public discourse around the so-called ‘me too’ movement, –such as the Sex for Grades investigation in 2019, which led to changes in the law around sexual harassment in Nigeria, and my Like.Share.Kill investigation in 2018, which exposed failings in Facebook’s safeguarding policies. Mr Hundeyin’s defamatory allegations completely subverted my position within this discourse. He falsely accused me of abusing my position in order to sexually exploit a female colleague and take advantage of her. Accusing a man of having an unprofessional sexual relationship with a female colleague is amongst the most damaging allegations that can be made in a modern professional environment. More damaging still, in my case, is that Mr Hundeyin claimed it was a junior colleague – Ms Kiki Mordi - who had first come to the BBC as a source speaking on the record about suffering sexual abuse. 16. The Defendant’s story is a complete fabrication, designed – in my view - to cause me maximum damage. He took my public image as a conscientious journalist with a track record for helping vulnerable people and destroyed it. His false allegations in the Article, in which he accused me of lying, manipulating and exploiting a young woman, sought to turn me into one of the monsters I have fought so hard to expose through my work. He threw me into a bizarre dystopian nightmare, fuelled by his relentless retweeting and discussion forums about the Article ... In some posts, he was vitriolic, sexist towards my colleague and intentionally humiliating, referring to her genitals and posting a crude sexualised meme video … His followers indulged in this content with relish, sharing, commenting, and piling in on the abuse. I have faced casual trolling online before. But nothing as targeted and explosive as Mr Hundeyin’s onslaught. His profile, the reach of his attack, and the defamatory meaning of his Article made it impossible for me to ignore this or walk away.”
“The BBC is either tacitly admitting that the allegations are right, and/or they don’t think one of the most respected journalists in Africa deserves a response.”
“30. At work in London, things grew steadily worse between 22 September and October 2022 – as Mr Hundeyin aggressively promoted his defamatory statements about me through his popular Twitter account … which is followed by numerous BBC staff members. Two senior BBC managers, Marc Perkins and Tom Watson, pulled me aside separately and asked me if I had engaged in an unprofessional sexual manner with Ms Mordi. They told me they believed me, but I know rumours continued to circulate internally based on later encounters I had with colleagues. 31. During this period colleagues approached me – such as the BBC Populations reporter and the BBC News West Africa correspondent - and asked me to explain what had happened, prompting agonising conversations, trying to prove to those with no context that it was a complete fabrication. Those that did not know me began to ask questions about the Article as well, and appeared to believe it, despite its total lack of substance. Around December 2022, my editor Mr Watson told me a senior reporter approached him about the Article and said ‘surely something funny’ must have happened. I asked colleagues I trusted to help me fight these rumours, but it did little to alter my strong inclination that many people were forming new and negative opinions of me. 32. To this day, there are many colleagues I no longer feel comfortable working with or seeing in the office on account of hearing that they believe Mr Hundeyin’s Article. I operate in a silo at work, among a small group of people I trust, but am alienated from a far wider group I once happily collaborated and worked with.”
“To those who do not know me or know there is nothing in the defamatory allegations, my innocence has never been established. I have faced two years of unpleasant and unfounded whispers – coupled with multiple excruciating conversations with colleagues, forcing me to explain the falsity of the allegations. I do not know if people have believed my protestations. I do not know the attitudes of those who have not spoken with me. Having once been a huge source of inspiration, work in the London office has become suffocating. I no longer enjoy it and feel utterly trapped by my circumstances.”
“55. On19 September 2022 , shortly before Mr Hundeyin published his article, his wife ‘Oge’ posted two tweets about the satisfaction of achieving, and I quote, ‘revenge.’ … Mr Hundeyin’s motivations, in my opinion, were fuelled by a desire to help his wife settle scores with people she didn’t like at the BBC – by attacking their reputations with intentionally false allegations. It’s telling that Mr Hundeyin never disclosed his relationship with Oge in his Article, despite mentioning her many times, and that (to the best of my knowledge) he has never mentioned it publicly. He confirmed their relationship in his response to the letter of claim.”
“I worked with a colleague to run an analysis of the defamatory Article, and its associated hashtags and tweets by Mr Hundeyin, to see how far it had spread between 27 September and31 October 2022 . This analysis suggested the content had received more than 40 million online impressions during this period (which are calculated by tracking the total number of times the content was displayed across Twitter on users’ feeds and on search results). A large percentage of these would have been abroad, but a very significant proportion of Mr Hundeyin’s followers are in England and Wales. He was educated here, has been invited to speak publicly here … and he’s launched two books here – which are sold in British bookstores.”
“Defamatory statements are objectionable not least because of their propensity to percolate through underground channels and contaminate hidden springs.”
“19.3.4. The Defendant hosted a Twitter space discussion on the Article on26 September 2022 to which more than 24,000 people tuned in. It is to be inferred that this prompted further discussion of the allegations complained of and the Claimant relies upon the grapevine effect. 19.3.5. Further on26 September 2022 , the Defendant distributed a link to his Article on tryflok.com via Twitter with the words “Who watches the watchers?”
“21.4 Despite the wholly unfounded nature of the Defendant’s allegations, the Claimant has been compelled to respond to them in conversations with his commissioning editor, editor and other colleagues (as to which paragraph 19.5 above is repeated) – conversations which were inherently embarrassing. The Claimant was in a long-term relationship and was recently married and to have to address an allegation that he had had a sexual relationship with a reporter on the documentary and promoted her as a result was deeply uncomfortable. 21.5. The Defendant followed up the Article by sending the Claimant an aggressive and vile email on30 September 2022 in which he said “You could have come clean by yourself. I warned you not to play with me. Congratulations. Hope the pussy was worth it.”
“(1) Where a court gives judgment for the claimant in an action for defamation the court may order the defendant to publish a summary of the judgment. (2) The wording of any summary and the time, manner, form and place of its publication are to be for the parties to agree. (3) If the parties cannot agree on the wording, the wording is to be settled by the court. (4) If the parties cannot agree on the time, manner, form or place of publication, the court may give such directions as to those matters as it considers reasonable and practicable in the circumstances.”
“239. The purpose of this section is to provide a remedy that will assist the claimant in repairing the damage to his reputation and obtaining vindication. Orders under the section are not to be made as any sort of punishment of the defendant. 240. Orders under s 12 are discretionary both as to whether to order the publication of a summary and (if the parties do not agree) in what terms and where. Exercising the power to require a defendant to publish a summary of the Court's judgment is an interference with the defendant's Article 10 right. As such, the interference must be justified. The interference may be capable of being justified in pursuit of the legitimate aim of 'the protection of the reputation or rights of others'. Whether an order under this section can achieve this aim will be a matter of fact in each case. If the interference represented by a s 12 order is justified, then the Court would then consider whether (if the parties agree) the terms of the summary to be published is proportionate. The Court should only make an order that the defendant publish a summary of the Court's judgment if there is a realistic prospect that one or other of these objectives will be realised and that the publication of a summary is necessary and proportionate to these objectives. 241. There is an obvious purpose, in an appropriate case, for ordering a newspaper to publish a summary of the judgment because there is a realistic basis on which to conclude that the published summary will come to the attention of at least some of those who read the original libel and others who may have learned about the allegation via the "grapevine" effect. In a smaller scale publication, where it is possible for the original publishees (or at least a substantial number of them) to be identified, again an order requiring the publication to them of a summary of the judgment may well help realise the objectives underpinning s 12. Each case will depend upon its own facts. If the defendant has already published a retraction and apology then, depending upon its terms, that may mean that an order under s 12 is not justifiable or required. The claimant will be able to point to that to assist in his vindication or repair to his reputation. 242. It is difficult to justify ordering a defendant to publish a summary of the court's judgment when there is no realistic prospect that by doing so it will come to the attention of any of those to whom the original libel was published (or republished). Put simply, the legitimate aim cannot be realised, and the order will either not be necessary at all or the requirements as to publication will be disproportionate.”
“(1) Where a court gives judgment for the claimant in an action for defamation the court may order - (a) the operator of a website on which the defamatory statement is posted to remove the statement, or (b) any person who was not the author, editor or publisher of the defamatory statement to stop distributing, selling or exhibiting material containing the statement. (2) In this section ‘author’, ‘editor’ and ‘publisher’ have the same meaning as insection 1 of the Defamation Act 1996 . (3) Subsection (1) does not affect the power of the court apart from that subsection.”