Privacy Digest

Rape payout creates privacy law | Media | The Australian: "A RAPE victim has won $234,000 in compensation after the ABC revealed her name on air, in a ruling that could give people the right to sue media organisations for breach of privacy.

In a judgment handed down in Victoria's County Court yesterday, judge Felicity Hampel recognised that she was creating a new 'tort' law for privacy.

'The invasion or breach of privacy alleged here is an actionable wrong which gives rise to a right to recover damages according to the ordinary principles governing damages in tort,' Judge Hampel said.

ABC radio revealed the real name of the rape victim - referred to as Jane Doe in the judgment - in a radio report in 2002 detailing the sentence handed down to the rapist in Melbourne.

Naming a victim of sexual assault without their consent is a criminal offence in Victoria and across most of Australia.

The judgment said the woman felt 'shocked, angry, anxious, scared, sorry for herself, vulnerable and as if she was exposed to the whole world' after the report went to air shortly after the sentencing.

'I had a piece of my life given back to me when he was found guilty, and I felt I was, I don't know, stripped naked in public again,' the woman said.

ABC journalists Valerio Veo and Terence Rickard pleaded guilty to criminal charges in relation to the naming and issued the woman with a written apology.

However, she sued the ABC and the journalists for compensation claiming breach of privacy, negligence and breach of statutory duty. Judge Hampel upheld each claim.

Lawyer Mark O'Brien from the firm Johnson, Winter and Slattery said the decision was significant and would probably be appealed."