PUTRAJAYA: Malaysian celebrity chef Datuk Redzuawan Ismail, also known as Chef Wan, was ordered to pay RM150,000 (US$31,800) in damages to his former Irish son-in-law over defamatory social media posts.
The Malaysian Court of Appeal on Thursday (Jun 20) overturned a High Court’s ruling earlier in 2023 that alleged statements made by the chef were not defamatory of former son-in-law Gavin Edward O’Luanaigh.
Chef Wan was ordered to pay RM150,000 in general, aggravated and exemplary damages to O’Luanaigh, and RM40,000 in costs for proceedings in the High Court and Court of Appeal.
O’Luanaigh, whose Muslim name is Salahudin Ghaffar, was married to Chef Wan’s actress daughter, Serina Redzuawan, in 2010 before their divorce in August 2017.
He filed a suit in February 2021 claiming that eight social media posts by Chef Wan were defamatory against him and his present wife.
In his statement of defence then, Chef Wan said the statements published in the postings were based on facts and were made without malicious intent.
On May 11, 2023, the Shah Alam High Court partly allowed O’Luanaigh’s claim for an injunction to restrain Chef Wan from publishing any libellous and false allegations against him.
The celebrity chef was also ordered to remove all eight posts on social media which were allegedly defamatory.
However, the judge then ruled that the statements were not defamatory of O’Luanaigh and were not published with malicious intent.
Chef Wan on Thursday was also granted a perpetual injunction prohibiting the chef from publishing defamatory statements about O’Luanaigh.
He will also have to pay an interest of five per cent per annum from the date of the filing of the writ of summons until the final settlement of the judgment sum.
