The boyfriend of murdered German backpacker Simone Strobel has dropped a defamation case against the author of a book he claimed allegedly implied he was the killer.
The 2005 unsolved murder in Lismore provoked a book by author Virginia Peters in 2014, entitled Have You Seen Simone?
Ms Strobel’s then boyfriend Tobias Moran (previously Suckfuell), who now lives in Western Australia with his wife, took action against the author and book’s publisher Schwartz Publishing that same year.
But Moran, who represented himself in the WA Supreme Court last week, said he was discontinuing the action as he had run out of money.
Judge Kenneth Martin made orders for Mr Moran to pay Ms Peters $120,000 in costs.
A criminal investigation into Ms Strobel’s death continues, with NSW police recently seizing documents from Mr Moran.
The Australian reports that last year Mr Moran claimed privilege against self-incrimination in relation to some of the documents.
In 2007 he refused to appear before an inquest into the case, which heard that the pair had been arguing the night Ms Strobel went missing.
Ms Peters welcomed the end of the proceedings, telling The Australian, it had been ‘a mammoth battle, not just with Moran, but also our archaic defamation laws,.
She said that she ‘could have ended this case years ago and saved myself a life’s savings,’ but… ‘I believe in my right to free speech.’
Congratulations to Virginia. I know how she feels.
Australians are denied facts every day due to Australia’s terrible defamation laws and the untenable cost of litigation.