Court awards Kitty Holland €35,000 damages in defamation case against John Waters

Ms Holland alleged that Mr Waters had made a claim in an address to a political party conference that she had lied in her story of the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar

Kitty Holland (pictured) had told the court that having received a tip-off about Ms Halappanavar’s untimely death she had thoroughly investigated the matter and her story had been published by the Irish Times under the headline “Woman ‘denied a termination’ dies in hospital” after having been vetted by editors and lawyers for three days. File photo: Collins Courts

Irish Times journalist Kitty Holland was on Wednesday awarded €35,000 damages for defamation of character against author and columnist John Waters.

In the Circuit Civil Court, Judge John O’Connor held that the defamation in the case was a serious attack on Ms Holland’s professional integrity as a journalist and had caused her considerable hurt.