Amber Harrison blogger, Shane Dowling, jailed over contempt of court
The blogger responsible for publishing the names of Seven West Media personalities – who Amber Harrison alleged had engaged in affairs with CEO Tim Worner – has been jailed for contempt of court.
Justice Ian Harrison in the NSW Supreme Court found Shane Dowling guilty of contempt after he breached suppression orders by Seven West Media and ignored court rulings by publishing the names of the women.
Amber Harrison (pictured) initially named the women in a complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission
In his judgment, Justice Harrison noted Dowling had described Seven’s suppression order as “dodgy” and had failed to remove the women’s names from his site, despite orders to do so.
“Mr Dowling has repeatedly published the names of the first and second plaintiffs on his website, his Facebook account and his Twitter account both by making fresh posts and by failing to remove existing posts, and has done so knowing it was in contravention of Campbell J’s orders to do so,” Justice Harrison ruled.
“Including the fact of the making of the orders in his publications, and of his knowledge of them, makes Mr Dowling’s defiance of the Court greater. As I have previously observed, Mr Dowling has never contended that Campbell J’s orders were ambiguous or unclear or that he did not understand them. His conduct was, as I have found, intentional, wilful and deliberate.
“I am satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that the defendant’s contempt is contumacious. I am unable to reach any conclusion other than that the defendant deliberately set out to disobey and to flaunt what he knew and understood to be the solemn orders of the Court.”
Justice Harrison noted Dowling had been clearly warned about the implications of continuing to breach the suppression order and sentenced him to four months jail.
“Mr Dowling’s conduct occurred in circumstances where he was on plain notice that if he disobeyed the orders he would potentially be liable to imprisonment,” Justice Harrison ruled.
“It is a fair reading of Mr Dowling’s publications in my view that he breached Campbell J’s orders not merely willingly and advertently but also enthusiastically. That enthusiasm is apparent upon the face of the publications.
“Mr Dowling was wholly responsible for the conduct in question. There is no feature or aspect of his role in publication which serves to diminish his culpability.”
Justice Harrison said Dowling failed to display “contrition or remorse” throughout the process.
Dowling has also previously been convicted of another contempt of court in a separate case which was noted by the judge.
“Mr Dowling’s previous punishment for contempt has clearly not served to deter his disregard for Campbell J’s orders. He has neither apologised for breaching them nor has he in any other way expressed contrition, remorse or regret for his actions. His contempt continues to this very day. In these circumstances I consider that no sentence other than the imposition of a term of full time custody is appropriate.”
Dowling first published the names of the women late last year after Amber Harrison went public with her affair with Worner.
Amber Harrison had named the women in her human rights commission complaint against the network.
Once the names were made public by Dowling on his blog – which Mumbrella won’t link to or name for legal reasons – two women launched urgent legal action in an attempt to have their names removed from the site.
Dowling was ordered to remove the names, however did not comply at the time and continued to post articles about the defamation proceedings.
Abigail Dawson was Mumbrella's senior content journalist covering event content. She left Mumbrella to move into an agency role in 2020.
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Good. Get thee to the clink, you pathetic blogger. Hope the two women sue the a*se off you. What a horrible thing to do.
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Jailed for how long?
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Did the judge say how long the jail sentence is? You don’t mention it in your story.
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Hi Julie (and Anon),
Apologies for this omission. The sentence is for four months. We have updated the story to reflect this.
Thanks,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
I hope everyone is sleeping well tonight – with the fact someone is in jail for reporting what was or was not the truth!
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What a complete waste of time. Surely a judge’s time would be better spent putting a murder in jail rather than a harmless blogger…
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Seriously this circus never ends. Disgraceful performances all round.
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I trust Shane more than I trust the Court. Will the CEO of the CBA now get the death penalty as 53,506 instances of alleged money laundering as it is a quantum leap when compared with a blogger who may or may not have written the truth about a person who was taking cocaine and did have an affair with at least one of his subordinates at work? Looks like the Court is again meddling in free speech, a corner stone of democracy.
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Is anyone at least capable of correctly spelling the gaol on this website. Oh my. How embarrassing
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