Cate Sayers scores win in defamation case
Cate Sayers wins libel case against husband and former Carlton chairman Luke Sayers; The judge ruled that it would not be in the interest of justice to move the case to federal court.
Judge Andrew Watson announced the decision on Wednesday, saying he accepted Cate Sayers’ argument that removing the case from the Supreme Court would create reporting restrictions on the case and prevent her from being publicly exonerated if she wins.
Watson stated that the case could be heard in the Supreme Court in November and that the matters could be “resolved quickly”.
However, he stated that the matter should proceed with the participation of the judges only and rejected Cate Sayers’ application for a jury to hear the case.
Luke Sayers’ legal representatives had previously applied to have the defamation case transferred from the Supreme Court of Victoria to a federal court where the matter could be heard privately in the family division.
Cate Sayers alleges that defamatory and false information about her, including that her husband sent a picture of his penis to
He claims that this action caused serious damage to his reputation due to a breach of trust and was a violation of his privacy.
In his defence, Luke Sayers admits he sent the document to the AFL’s general counsel Stephen Meade and solicitor Christopher Townshend (KC), who is assisting the Carlton Football Club, but denies wider publication.
Cate Sayers’ legal team argued that the case should be heard publicly in the High Court in the hope that the mother would be “exonerated”.
Text messages between the couple were released by the court last week, soon after the racy photo scandal broke, showing the former Carlton Football Club chairman trying to claim no one thought his wife was responsible for the publication of the nude image.
At the time, Cate Sayers was in Europe and her husband announced that he would leave the football club and fly to Italy to meet her.
When he landed in Italy, Luke Sayers told Cate that he was heartbroken, sorry, that he loved her and that he didn’t think anyone shared the photo, and that they should both ignore the media.
Cate Sayers says she took “a swuillion” [sic] Messages from people in Australia about the incident and that everyone still believes he accessed account X and made the post.
“No, they don’t… I have been very clear about pursuing this hack privately from today onwards,” Koca wrote.
Cate Sayers said she was angry and needed some time and told her husband to “find another hotel.”
“You saved yourselves and dragged me into this again as the person who accessed your account. Read the narrative in the media. I am heartbroken and I don’t think I can return to Australia anymore,” he wrote.
Luke Sayers’ messages allegedly contradict what he told the AFL and football club in a confidential document in January 2025
In it, he allegedly claimed Cate was responsible for the photo posted to account X, which remained online for 13 minutes on January 8, 2025. not mentally well And he can’t take his medication.
This conflicting account It is at the center of legal proceedings in the High Court after Cate Sayers launched a libel suit.
Allegedly at the time of writing this article legal declarationLuke Sayers was the subject of an investigation by AFL integrity following the post.
Her lawyer, Matt Collins, KC, said his client had “issued a legal declaration in good faith” along with documents submitted to the court, arguing that Luke Sayers “genuinely and reasonably believed” that Cate had published the “medical photograph” on X.
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