00:00The Court of Appeal has increased the damages awarded to former Toontalk CEO Jason Lowe from
00:06200,000 ringgit to 300,000 ringgit after Star Media Group Berhad and three journalists were
00:12found liable for defamation. The decision followed a ruling by a three-member bench
00:16chaired by Justice Colin Lawrence-Sakira, now a federal court judge, who sat with Justices
00:21Faiza Jamaluddin and Ong Chi Kwan and allowed Lowe's cross-appeal on Quantum.
00:27The court ordered Star Media Group Berhad and the journalists to pay Lowe 50,000 ringgit
00:31in costs and dismissed the media organization's appeal on liability and Quantum. Faiza, in
00:37delivering the unanimous decision, said the additional sum would be a global award without
00:41the need to distinguish the types of damages. She also said there was no reason to disturb
00:46the findings of High Court Judge Alice Loke, who on November 9, 2023, ruled that Lowe had
00:51proven his case on the balance of probabilities and that all defenses had failed.
00:56Lowe's suit centered on two articles published in The Star on May 16th and 25th, 2019, as
01:02well as a Facebook commentary by one of the reporters published on May 25th, 2019.
01:07Faiza added that the defendants failed to establish justification or qualified privilege, present
01:12Lowe's side of the story, or provide credible evidence to support claims that he was a molester
01:16and had a history of drug abuse and domestic abuse.
01:20Dhani Shorja Riza, FMT.
Comments