In what is one of the wildest stories you will read today, a Queensland woman has been made to pay $280,000 to her neighbours after she falsely branded them as paedophiles on a Facebook community page.
Zoe Anne Gooding was ordered by the Queensland District Court to pay de facto couple Mianka Rodgers and Michael Usher $200,000 in compensatory damages and $65,000 in aggravated damages.
An additional payment of $15,000 was also asked of her for running over Usher with her car after she was told she was going to be sued in 2022.
On top of this, the court is asking for more than $14,000 in interest. No money for wrongdoers.
Rodgers and Usher sued Gooding in February 2022 after a slew of Facebook posts by their neighbour calling them paedophiles completely upheaved their life in Bushland Beach and even impacted their ability to become foster parents.
The posts were made to the Bushland Beach Crime Alert group in which there are more than 5000 members.
“Paedophile 12 Holbourne Street,” wrote Gooding.
When asked by shocked residents if this was true, Gooding commented the following:
“When it’s your kid being touched then you wouldn’t be saying it’s a wild accusation.
“We know ‘cos they tried getting our six-year-old to go with them multiple times.”
Approximately 90 minutes later Gooding reportedly informed her Facebook followers that she had allegedly been “hacked”.
“Hi everyone. So looked [sic] like my FB had been hacked. Neighbour just went mental and we were wondering why. Have reset my settings. Apologies.”
However, District Court Judge John Coker told the court that Gooding’s claims of being hacked were “demonstrably false.”
“It is also clear that the consequences for the first and second plaintiffs have been significant,” he said.
Shortly after, Gooding made a voluntary admission that she alone was the publisher of the Facebook posts.
In an affidavit (written court statement), Rodgers detailed how she and her partner were affected by the untrue claims.
“Mick did not want to leave the house,” she said.
“He closed all the curtains and would not go outside to mow the grass. He told me repeatedly that he felt ashamed and embarrassed. He became progressively more withdrawn from communicating with me, his friends and neighbours. Our social life in Holbourne Street stopped dead.
“The defamatory post has changed me.”
She continued to say that she was previously an outgoing person but has become shy in social interactions due to the implications in Goodings’ post.
“I don’t like telling people about what happened with the defamatory post,” she said.
“Also, I will not touch anybody’s child. Due to the impact of the defamatory post Mick and I have abandoned our plans to become foster parents.
“It is important that people understood clearly that Mick and I are not paedophiles. However, I do not believe that whatever we do we will ever be able to wash the stain away entirely.”
Judge Coker saw that this irreparable damage could only be remedied by “a very real penalty”.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.
