Judge dismisses defamation suit by former president of country club

Club member had called him a coward, but defence of justification was established

- Samuel Devaraj

Although a member of Serangoon Gardens Country Club had made defamatory comments against its former president at a meeting in September 2019, including calling him a coward, a judge found that the defence of justification had been established.

District Judge Allen Ng dismissed the defamation suit by Mr Terrence Fernandez, president of the country club between June 24, 2018, and September 2020, against Mr Thomas Tan Aik Hong, in comments made on Jan 7.

This was on the premise that the District Court did not have the requisite jurisdiction to hear the case, as the special damages Mr Fernandez was asking for exceeded the limit for cases that it could hear.

But the judge noted that even if the District Court did have jurisdiction, Mr Tan would have succeeded in the defence of justification.

According to the judgment, the 13-member general committee that was led by Mr Fernandez faced problems from the start after it was elected.

Between Oct 31 and November 2018, nine committee members resigned, seven of whom claimed to have lost confidence in Mr Fernandez.

On or around Nov 8, 2018, the club received a requisition signed by 111 of its members to hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to oust Mr Fernandez from his role.

The EGM was eventually convened on Sept 8, 2019, and 80 of the 111 who had initially asked for the meeting arrived at the club.