A student wrongly named by Channel Seven as the Bondi Junction attacker has settled with the network for an undisclosed amount.
Benjamin Cohen has hired two of Australia’s most prominent defamation lawyers, Patrick George of Giles George as his lawyer and Sue Chrysanthou SC as counsel, to launch a civil case against the network.
A notice of concern was sent to Seven last week and the network revealed on Friday it had reached a settlement with the university student and apologised.
Cohen’s name was wrongly linked to the April 13 attack by Sunrise co-host Matt Shirvington shortly after 6am the following day and again by journalist Lucy McLeod 10 minutes later.
Joel Cauchi, 40, from Queensland, has since been identified as the man in an Australian Kangaroos jersey who unleashed a murderous attack at the popular shopping center in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Ben Cohen (pictured) was wrongly identified by internet sleuths as the man behind the Bondi Junction Westfield attack.
The killer (pictured during the attack) was revealed to be 40-year-old Joel Cauchi.
Hours seven wrong reports, NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley confirmed that Cauchi was the attacker who was shot dead by heroic police officer Amy Scott.
Seven issued an on-air apology to Cohen on Sunday read by journalist Sarah Jane Bell during a crossover.
“Early this morning, incident reports incorrectly named the perpetrator as 40-year-old Benjamin Cohen,” he said on air.
‘The 40-year-old’s name was later confirmed to be Joel Cauchi from Queensland. Seven apologizes for any upset caused by our previous reporting.
On Saturday night, online trolls misidentified Mr. Cohen and his name began trending on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Cohen told news.com.au earlier this week that he had been inundated with friend requests and messages on social media.
“It’s become crazy, it’s like ‘look, you’ve got the wrong person’,” Mr Cohen, a first-year computer science student, told news.com.au.
‘People don’t really think too much about what they post and how it might affect someone. It’s very dangerous how people can make things up and destroy lives.’
Seven’s new CEO and CEO Jeff Howard, who took over after James Warburton resigned last week, said the mistake was a “serious mistake and totally unfounded”.
“Seven withdraws the false allegations without reservation and apologizes for the harm you and your family have suffered as a result of Seven’s statements about you,” he said in a letter to Mr. Cohen released by his lawyers.
He explained that a Seven producer wrongly assumed that information circulating online had been confirmed to be correct.
“This led to the inclusion in the news broadcast by Seven at approximately 6.05am and 6.15am of the words mentioned in the notice of concerns and for a short period on Seven’s social media channels,” he said.
‘The mistake quickly became apparent and the name ‘Benjamin Cohen’ was no longer broadcast in Seven’s ongoing news coverage. Seven tried to find a contact number for you, but didn’t find one until your mother called the newsroom.
‘Seven staff, including especially its on-air presenters Mr Shirvington and Mrs (Lucy) McLeod, are devastated that the mistake was made and that it has affected them.
‘Seven would like to assure you that the error originated at producer level and that Seven presenters were in no way involved in suggesting or scripting the words that were published.
‘However, both Mr Shirvington and Ms McLeod wish to offer their personal apologies for the pain and distress caused. While Seven does not suggest this is relevant to their reaction, we note that the staff members involved are deeply remorseful and traumatized by the mistake.
