Australia, Aug. 26 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 25:

1. HIS HONOUR: The Court is required to deal with a notice of motion seeking suppression orders in relation to the identity of two persons. The substantive proceedings are for defamation in which the plaintiff alleges that the defendant defamed the plaintiff by publishing a note to its members regarding a sanction handed down by the US Centre for SafeSport against the plaintiff, who is an Australian Olympian and Coach. The sanction was imposed as a consequence of findings of sexual misconduct involving a minor.

2. The pleadings relate to publications alleging sexual conduct that is said to have been engaged in by the plaintiff towards two persons (hereinafter "Claimant No 1" and "a 14-year-old Australian" respectively) without their consent or when relevantly underage. Claimant No 1 was 17 years of age at the time and is said to have been the subject of sexual conduct by the plaintiff in California, USA, where the age of consent is 18 years. The 14-year-old Australian was the subject of sexual conduct by the plaintiff which occurred in Queensland.

3. The motion, filed by the defendant on 24 July 2025, was listed before the Court and referred to the Court as presently constituted as part of the defamation list. The motion is supported by an affidavit of Jason Zafiropoulos of 24 July 2025. There is no affidavit in answer to the affidavit relied upon by the defendant and there was no cross-examination.

4. The motion seeks orders under the Court Suppression and Non-publication Orders Act 2010 (NSW) (hereinafter "the Act"), being orders restraining publication of the names or information that would identify, or tend to identify, the names of either Claimant No 1 or the 14-year-old Australian. The plaintiff opposes the suppression and non-publication orders sought.

5. The affidavit in support refers to Claimant No 1 to whom the deponent spoke via audio visual link on 24 July 2025. From the information conveyed by Claimant No 1 to the deponent, the deponent swears to the fact that if Claimant No 1 were identified publicly, it would add further significant negative and damaging impact to her mental health to that which has already been caused by the alleged incidents described above and which are described in the SafeSport investigation and the appeal therefrom.

6. It should be noted that the reasons for decision of the Tribunal in relation to the incidence and the sanction were such that no identification of the person was made (with the exception of what seems to be an error in one paragraph). The 14-year-old Australian has not had their name published and there is no evidence before the Court that he or she would or does consent to the name being made public.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1984ed983854201d15ed25bf)

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