Landlord turned screenwriter Christian Carter has backed off from using anti-stalking laws to stop an RTÉ reporter writing stories about him, but has been hit with a €5,000 legal bill.
Dublin man Carter had secured interim restraining orders on April 9th, temporarily stopping Amy Molloy, the Irish Independent’s Social Affairs Correspondent, and Maura Fay, a Today with Claire Byrne reporter on RTÉ Radio 1, from publishing stories about him.
Both of the journalists resisted his attempts to extend the interim order for five-years.
However, last month at Dublin District Court, Judge Anthony Halpin threw out Carter’s bid to “silence” Amy Molloy before lifting reporting restrictions and landing him with an order to pay €10,000 to cover expenses incurred by Mediahuis, the publishers of the Irish Independent, in fighting the case.
On Tuesday, Carter’s case against Ms Fay was listed again for hearing. However, during the call-over of the day’s cases, his barrister, Stephen Wilson, instructed by solicitor Alex Rafter, said he was instructed to withdraw the matter.
Judge Halpin noted two similar previous attempts against Ms Fay had failed. Following an application by Rebecca Tierney BL for Ms Fay, he ordered Carter to pay her legal costs of €5,000.
Furthermore, he again lifted the in-camera rule, allowing the parties to be named.
The businessman’s U-turn follows a resounding courtroom defeat on April 16th in his action against the Irish Independent journalist.
In that case, Judge Halpin criticised Carter’s use of the process, saying it was not the purpose of the civil restraining orders introduced last year.
The judge had heard that Amy Molloy had broken stories and covered court cases about Carter’s days as a landlord and his tax affairs.
“I was just doing my job,” the journalist emphasised when she testified at the hearing.
Judge Halpin dismissed that case: “I never envisaged that this forum would be used to dilute journalistic freedom or restrict publication of certain matters.”
He held that Carter endeavoured to use this legal remedy to “suppress” the legitimate publication of facts he did not want in the public domain.
Ronan Lupton SC for the newspaper described that civil restraining order application as a collateral attack that tramples on the right of freedom of expression.
In evidence, the journalist rejected suggestions from the applicant’s solicitor that she had stepped over the line, telling Judge Halpin she was simply seeking a comment, offering Carter the right to reply, which was a fundamental part of journalism, and “I was just doing my job”.
Carter claimed that she had written 50 articles and had rehashed stories about him since 2017.
In response to his claims, Ms Molloy said since 2017, she had written 17 or 18 articles concerning properties Carter rented out and when he appeared on the tax defaulters list last year.
One of the properties featured in her work was a Cabinteely property, which she alleged had 70 tenants, while Carter claimed it was a 6,000 sq ft 25-roomed mansion with 40 tenants. The Circuit Court had ordered him to pay €20,000 to some of his tenants.
The court heard he was also featured in a 2017 RTÉ Investigates broadcast called Nightmare to Let.
Ms Molloy explained she had written about his issues with the Residential Tenancies Board, a council and the Revenue Commissioners.
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The journalist said that a source informed her that Carter had recently travelled to various destinations, including South America, Canada, and Hawaii.
Ms Molloy asserted that in light of that, she attempted to reach out to him for a comment on whether he had paid up following his settlement of nearly one million euro with the Revenue Commissioners after under-declaring income tax.
She stated, “If Mr Carter had paid his taxes and had not dangerously overcrowded houses, I would never have had to write about him”.
Breaching a civil restraining order can result in a €4,000 fine, a criminal conviction and a 12-month prison sentence.