Wrongly attributed man in Cleo Smith case flags legal action against Seven
An SBS article titled ‘Aboriginal man wrongly named as Cleo Smith abductor plans to sue Seven Network’ yesterday states that the falsely identified individual plans to move forward with legal action against Seven West Media.
Terry Flowers told Ngaarda Media that after being notified of the story on the 7 News website, he was deeply distressed and that it caused him to have a panic attack, following a visit to a local police station.
The initial social media post linking Flowers to the abduction was removed, however it was picked up by Seven, with Flowers then going to the local police station for assistance.
Screenshot from 7 News post
Seven News issued an apology yesterday, pictured below, however Flowers believed that the damage was already done, and that Seven should have “done its job properly”.
“That stuff is not acceptable,” Flowers told Ngaarda Media. “What they did was go straight on Facebook. The first person they seen got through my photos and uploaded on social media, and spread it around, not just in Australia, this is worldwide.”
This has resulted in him aiming to proceed with legal action, after consultation with lawyers.
“I want them to do their job more seriously, and professionally and I’m gonna end up suing them anyways, cause it’s not the right thing for them to be doing.”
Seven indicated to Mumbrella that it would not be making any further comments at this stage.
“Earlier on Wednesday 7News wrongly showed images of a man that were incorrectly labelled as the person under arrest over disappearance of Cleo Smith,” the apology read.
“These were removed promptly, but 7NEWS apologises for the error.”
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Calum Jaspan was news editor at Mumbrella, based in Melbourne. He was also the producer and host of the Mumbrellacast. He left Mumbrella in May 2023.
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