That’s what happened to an Eldorado Park man, Duane Brady, who allegedly left a string of defamatory messages for Daniella Cox, a friend of his wife. <\/p>\n
Cox reported these to the police and Brady appeared yesterday in the Kliptown Magistrate’s Court on charges of crimen injuria and common assault. He was not asked to plead. <\/p>\n
Crimen injuria is a criminal offence committed when a person deliberately injures another’s reputation. <\/p>\n
Experts believe this case could prompt others. <\/p>\n
Peter Grealy, a partner at the Webber Wentzel law firm, said: ‘‘With the advent of the Internet there’s no doubt that you can be defamed. The difficulty lies in how you prove that that person is responsible. <\/p>\n
‘‘I am not aware of any other such cases and this case may well be the catalyst to people coming forward.” <\/p>\n
He said some social networking sites contained images and videos, posted especially by teenagers, that invaded people’s privacy and were derogatory. <\/p>\n
‘‘The offence is not new … one commits crimen injuria by being derogatory or defamatory, basically causing injury to that person’s reputation,’’ Grealy said. <\/p>\n
Paul Jacobson, a web and digital media lawyer, said this case was the first he had heard of involving a Facebook posting. <\/p>\n
‘‘People need to be educated about which forms of expression are legitimate and which are not.” <\/p>\n
An officer at the Eldorado Park police station, who did not want to be named, told The Times Brady had been arrested on Monday and charged with crimen injuria after a woman laid the charge against him. <\/p>\n
“He apparently wrote some statement on Facebook about her and when she approached him about it, he allegedly called her a b**ch and said that she sleeps around so she can buy drugs. <\/p>\n
‘‘His mother called and asked whether it was correct for the police to arrest him late at night and I said that as long as police are on duty, they can arrest anyone at any time,’’ the police captain said. <\/p>\n
Brady was remanded in custody until his bail application next Wednesday. <\/p>\n