It is all falling apart for David Sharaz, after pleading no contest, he had hoped to throw himself on the mercy of the court. Justice David Tottle was apparently not impressed, instead finding David Sharaz had defamed former Defence Minister Linda Reynolds, he clearly defamed her on social media and apparently thought he was immune from defamation laws.

I am learning plenty from following this case, Justice Tottle ordered David Sharaz to pay cost on an indemnity basis, this is where a special costs order is applied and only applied in special circumstances to cover costs and disbursements reasonably that are incurred.Based on the provisions of the defamation Act, indemnity costs can be applied if the court is satisfied that the defendant acted in an unreasonable manner where they failed to make a settlement offer.

This would include a settlement offer offered by a plaintiff, there was not even an offer of an apology made by David Sharaz. So Justice Tottle ordered David Sharaz to pay Linda Reynolds $92,000 in damages, that hurts. However, costs look like they will be around the $500,000 region after defaming Linda Reynolds in a series of social media posts, there are still plenty of supporters on social media believing Linda Reynolds acted improperly, this is why defamation laws are important, some people will believe these posts no matter what.