ABC’s backflip after being sued for defamation by war hero Heston Russell

The ABC has sensationally brought out its final defense in its defamation fight against a former special forces commando, just two weeks before the matter was set to go to trial.

Heston Russell, who made headlines after raising $15,000 for the Swiss 8 veterans charity by selling nude photos of himself on OnlyFans, is suing ABC and two of its investigative journalists over stories published in 2020 and 2021.

He claimed that the stories made it appear that he was being investigated for shooting an unarmed prisoner.

The stories, written and produced by journalists Mark Willacy and Josh Robertson, aired on television, radio and online on November 19, 2021.

Earlier this year, Judge Michael Lee found that ten defamatory indictments filed by the national broadcaster were carried out after a preliminary hearing in November 2022.

The matter was set to go to trial later this month and ABC relied solely on new public interest evidence to defend the stories, after it dropped its “truth” defenses following a series of strikeout requests from the Russell’s team.

In an emergency hearing in Federal Court, ABC’s attorney Lyndelle Barnett told the court they had “withdrawn the public interest defense.”

But at an emergency hearing in Federal Court at 5:45 p.m. Wednesday, ABC’s attorney Lyndelle Barnett told the court they had “withdrawn the public interest defense” and accepted that Russell had the right to judge.

NCA NewsWire understands that the costs in the case are expected to exceed $1 million.

The urgent listing came after the court ordered ABC to produce documents that attorney Sue Chrysanthou SC said were misspelled for relevance, as well as documents revealing the identity of a source named ‘Josh’.

On Wednesday, Ms. Barnett requested a stay of the orders requiring them to produce the documents, and the stay was granted pending hearing on the application on Friday.

Ms Barnett told the court she had taken the course as ABC takes “its promises to sources very seriously”.

“It’s not a course to be taken lightly, but it demonstrates the importance of those promises to my clients,” he said.

Russell claimed that the use of his name and photo in the articles implied that he was involved in the death of an Afghan prisoner.

In his sentencing earlier this year, Judge Lee said that while ‘Josh’s’ identity was protected, it was ‘strange’ as he appeared in articles and images of him were also broadcast on various TV shows.

‘Both articles state that he does not want to be identified because he ‘fears reprisals’, says the sentence, handed down in February.

“If those responsible for the ABC publication of ‘Josh’s’ photo relied on ‘Josh’s’ fear of retaliation, they must have assumed that his would-be assailants were a somewhat indifferent and lazy bunch.”

Mr Russell’s lead lawyer argues that the former commando is entitled to the redacted documents regardless of whether ABC drops its remaining public interest defense.

Judge Lee commented that the hearing time scheduled for July 28 would now be used to assess damages, including Mr Russell’s claim for aggravated damages due to ABC’s conduct in the proceedings.

While the articles contained a denial by Mr Russell, he claims that the use of his name and photo implied that he was involved in the death of an Afghan prisoner.

In his lawsuit statement, Russell said that an ABC article published in 2021 allegedly soldiers from the November commando platoon were being investigated for their actions in Afghanistan in 2012.

Mr Russell (pictured) launched a campaign with 2GB’s Ben Fordham and called on ABC to apologize and remove the articles.

Mr. Russell is asking ABC to remove the article and pay aggravated damages in addition to court costs.

It was claimed that the platoon murdered a prisoner who was unarmed and handcuffed because there was no room on the extraction flight.

A US Navy helicopter pilot said he was not a witness, but heard a ‘pop’ on the radio that he believed was a gunshot.

Russell launched a campaign with 2GB’s Ben Fordham and called on ABC to apologize and remove the articles.

In March 2022, the national broadcaster quietly updated and posted corrections to two of the stories.

Mr. Russell is asking ABC to remove the article and pay aggravated damages in addition to court costs.

The matter will return to court on Friday.