Justice Anthony McGrath has ordered three high profile Australian men and the appalling and reprehensible messages they shared about domestic violence and sex to stay secret.
The ABC was prevented from revealing the contents of a group chat by the men – all involved in sport – by allowing the offenders temporary suppression orders.
The messages: “Principally contain shared jokes, insults of named other people (known to the men) in their sport and crude descriptions of sexual acts and domestic violence.”
Two of the men are married and one “holds many high-profile ambassador roles, commercial sponsorship arrangements and media roles”.
That man’s lawyer said if the messages were revealed and the offender named it would be “devastating to the important work that he performs as an advocate within and outside his sport”.
The judge was also told exposing them would: “Likely to lead to serious harm to their reputations and standing as well as their financial interests”.
If the material is released they also face consequences from their sporting clubs.
The messages were provided to an ABC journalist and an expose was planned but the men sought the suppression order.
A former partner of one of the men came forward with the content.
“The evidence suggests that the text messages in the group chat are the private thoughts of the plaintiffs (in some instances expressed in vulgar and offensive terms), shared with each other and not beyond, and were never intended by the plaintiffs to be made public,” McGrath said in his ruling.
The suppression order will remain in place until a final hearing is held.
If you know anything about the messages on the men, please DM me. All information will be held confidential.
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