Justice Alice Loke said Lo had proved his case on the balance of probabilities and all defences raised to ward off the suit had also been dismissed.

She also ordered The Star Media Group Bhd and its three journalists to pay Lo another RM40,000 in costs.

The plaintiff’s suit centred around two articles published by the defendants’ newspaper, The Star, on May 16 and 25, 2019.

It also involved a commentary on Facebook by one of the reporters which was published on May 25, 2019.

Loke in her broad grounds said the articles referring to Lo were defamatory.

“The impugned articles read in its entirety and its ordinary meaning implied dishonourable character on the part of the plaintiff.

“The court finds that the contents of the articles are disparaging and seriously damage the plaintiff’s reputation,” she said.

Loke said the defendants failed to prove the defence of justification and qualified privilege.

She said some portions in the three publications, such as stating that the plaintiff had a history of drug and domestic abuse and was a molester, were not substantiated by credible evidence.

“The defendants cannot hope to avoid liability by employing words like allegedly or mere reportage of the contents of police reports,” she said.

Loke said the defendants also failed to publish Lo’s side of the story and overstepped the boundaries of responsible journalism in the publications of the three impugned articles.

Counsel TS Hariharan and Effa Azuin Aidrul Hisham represented Lo while Izral Khairy and Joycelyn Goh appeared for the defendants.