A Sydney barrister was portrayed as a "thief" by stories aired on Channel Nine's A Current Affair allegedly implying she stole a prized cavoodle from its rightful owner, a court has heard.
Gina Edwards is suing the network and journalist Steve Marshall over two 2021 broadcasts, and an article, published while she was locked in a legal fight for ownership of Oscar the dog with former friend Mark Gillespie.
In the Federal Court on Monday, her barrister Sue Chrystanthou SC said the stories repeated "lie after lie" about the situation, to the point it would "be kind to describe them as gutter journalism".
She claimed A Current Affair parroted Mr Gillespie's "defamatory hearsay" by painting Ms Edwards as a "dog sitter" who'd unlawfully gained custody of Oscar.
Ms Chrystanthou argues Ms Edwards was defamed and her reputation as a barrister was damaged, both here in Australia and her homeland of the US.
It is also claimed the stories portrayed her as exploiting Oscar for financial gain and attempting to delay the court case over the dog's ownership.
"It was a six-month campaign of what can only be described as harassment against my client," Ms Chrysanthou said.
"Where they pursued her at her home, at work, at court and at her local park."
The court heard Ms Edwards, her husband Ken Flavell, and, cruise ship director Mr Gillespie, had been co-parents of Oscar since 2016, and previously enjoyed a happy relationship.
Mr Gillespie bought the dog and registered Mr Flavell as the secondary owner.
The trio "acted as a family" in attending events with Oscar, Ms Chrysanthou said, and Mr Gillespie encouraged Ms Edwards to run an Instagram page for the dog with 10,000 followers.
Texts messages read to the court, sent by Mr Gillespie, referred to Ms Edwards as Oscar's "mommy".
But in May 2018, things began to change when Mr Gillespie's relatives began caring for Oscar at a property in Wingella, in the Southern Highlands, while he was working away.
Ms Edwards and Mr Flavell retrieved the dog from the property numerous times between August 2018 and November 2019, but became concerned he was not being walked or fed properly.
Ms Chrysanthou said Mr Gillespie's relatives refused her clients access to their dog, but they managed to get hold of him in December 2019 and filed court documents over his custody.
That sparked the civil battle, which they won, in November last year, but not before Ms Edwards became the subject of a "false narrative" about being only the dog sitter, Ms Chrysanthou alleged.
"Trying to characterise her as some employee who turned up and snatched the dog is quite disgraceful," she said.
During the first broadcast, aired on May 24, 2021, cameras were present when Mr Gillespie took Oscar from a park in Kirribilli while Ms Edwards ran after him.
It was made out to be a coincidence, the court heard, but Mr Gillespie and Mr Marshall had been staking out Ms Edwards home and her husband's work for "hours" the day before filming.
"Operation cavoodle capers is underway," Mr Gillespie wrote in a text on May 17, 2021. "Heading to confirmed stake-out position."
Nine argue defamatory imputations were not carried by the publications as claimed by Ms Edwards, but if they were, they're true.
Mark Maconachie, a colleague of Ms Edwards at Ground Floor Wentworth Chambers, told the court she was known as being a "vivacious", respected character before the stories were broadcast.
She became, however, the "source of whispers" in the office after A Current Affair came to the Phillip Street chambers in the CBD to "ask for Gina" in June 2021.
Mr Maconachie said her picture was removed from the chamber's website afterward, and there was a sense "the Channel Nine controversy may not just be a problem for Gina but be a problem for the floor more generally".
He said she wasn't coming into chambers or working as much after the stories were broadcast, and believed she seemed like a "bit of a wreck" when they spoke on the phone.
The court heard Ms Edwards asked Mr Maconachie to help her write a letter to Channel Nine, asking the footage and stories be removed.
"She said something to the effect that, 'I want the material taken down because there's a court case going on …its ruining my life. It's ruining my practice'," he recalled.
"'It's making me look like a crazy dog thief and none of it's true'."
The hearing continues before Justice Michael Wigney.
