Colourful Melbourne identity Mick Gatto has had an appeal dismissed after he fought to challenge the outcome of a defamation case against the ABC.
Mr Gatto’s matter was heard briefly in the Court of Appeal on Wednesday after he argued a judge made a mistake when it threw out his defamation case against the ABC last year.
Court of Appeal judges granted permission to appeal one specific part the larger case against the broadcaster, but the appeal was ultimately dismissed.
Mr Gatto had sued the broadcaster over an article in 2019 that reported allegations he threatened to kill lawyer turned police snitch Nicola Gobbo.
Mr Gatto claimed the article also aired allegations he was implicated in the gangland murders of Victor Peirce and Frank Benvenuto.
He submitted the article also implied he was one of the nation’s most violent criminals.
But the defamation case was thrown out, with the judge saying while Mr Gatto was “unhappy” with the coverage the ABC “carefully recorded” they were just allegations.
He later appealed that decision.
In the appeal, lawyer David Gilbertson QC told the court that the judge made an error in not finding the article carried that imputation, did not take into account it was published online and mistakenly referred to authorities concerned with striking out pleadings.
But the ABC’s barrister argued against these claims and said the article was not sensational, which was a term that could be hard to define.
On Wednesday, the court was told the Court of Appeal judges were “unanimous” in their decision to dismiss the majority of the appeal.
Though he was granted leave to appeal parts of the article which Mr Gatto claims imply he threatened to kill Ms Gobbo.
But grounds three and four, which relate to Mr Gatto claiming the article implied he was responsible for the murders of Mr Peirce and Mr Benvenuto, were unanimously rejected.
“Nowhere in the article is it stated in terms that the applicant was responsible for the murders of Victor Peirce and Frank Benvenuto; or that the applicant plotted to lure Victor Peirce to his death; or that Victor Peirce was killed on the applicant’s orders. To xjmtzywarrive at these imputations, a significant amount of reading between the lines must be undertaken,” the judgment reads.
“The article makes it plain that the applicant was never charged with, let alone convicted, of either murder.”
The appeal was ultimately dismissed.
