Facebook defamation: man wins lawsuit over estranged wife's domestic violence post

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'A West Australian man has successfully sued his estranged wife for defamation over a Facebook post that suggested she was the victim of domestic violence, after a Perth court found she could not prove the statement was true.

Bunbury teacher Miro Dabrowski was awarded $12,500 in damages at the West Australian district court in December by Justice Michael Bowden.

The offending post, which was posted on his estranged wife Robyn Greeuw’s public Facebook profile in December 2012, read: “Separated from Miro Dabrowski after 18 years of suffering domestic violence and abuse. Now fighting the system to keep my children safe.”
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In his decision, Bowden said some of Dabrowski’s comments about the nature of the relationship were “incredulous”. But he said Greewu’s “implausible” claims about how the Facebook post came to be undermined her credibility, and meant he could not find she had been the victim of domestic violence and abuse on her word alone.

“Domestic violence and abuse by its very nature usually occur in the matrimonial home and in the absence of independent witnesses. I accept that defamation findings can be made solely on the evidence of one partner against the other,” Bowden said.

“However, Ms Greeuw’s credibility is so badly affected by the matters to which I have referred that it leads to the conclusion that she is prepared to say or write whatever she thinks will suit her case and I would not be prepared to accept her evidence unless it is supported by independent evidence or documents contemporaneously made with the events she now complains of.”'