Liberty Group Limited v Mano (39035/2018) [2024] ZAGPJHC 719 (8 August 2024)

Parties

Procedural Posture

Urgent Application / Third Urgent Contempt Application; Hearing and Judgment

Legal Issues

1. 1 Whether the respondent is in further and continued contempt of the 2018 and 2023 court orders.
2. 2 Whether the respondent's conduct justifies the imposition of a custodial sentence for contempt.
3. 3 Whether the respondent's emails and communications constitute breaches of the interdict orders.

Ratio Decidendi

The court found that the respondent was fully aware of the 2018 and 2023 orders and their contents, and that he wilfully and deliberately breached these orders by sending hundreds of vulgar, obscene, abusive, threatening, and defamatory emails to the applicant, its employees, and a wide network of third parties. The respondent's justification that his emails were literary or truthful was rejected, as the orders explicitly prohibited such communications. The respondent's conduct was found to be ongoing, calculated, and in direct contravention of the interdicts, with no reasonable doubt as to his wilfulness and mala fides. The court held that the respondent's actions undermined the...

Court Disposition

The respondent is found guilty of contempt of the 2018 and 2023 court orders. He is sentenced to 12 months imprisonment for contempt of the 2018 Order, wholly suspended for 5 years on condition of compliance. The suspended sentence of 10 months imprisonment imposed in the 2023 Order is further suspended for 5 years...

Orders

• The forms and service provided for in the Uniform Rules of Court are dispensed with and the matter is dealt with as one of urgency.
• The respondent is declared to be in contempt of the order of this Court granted by Maier-Frawley AJ on 30 October 2018.