Rivkin tells court how homosexual claims hurt him

High profile financier Rene Rivkin was the victim of the popular Sydney pastime of scurrilous gossip, the Supreme Court heard on the first day of a defamation damages hearing against Channel 7.

"It's cafe tittle tattle for years this city has been bedevilled by rumours about prominent people . all of which have been found to be false," Mr Rivkin's counsel, Bruce McClintock, SC, said.

Four years after the Witness program into the 1995 death of model Caroline Byrne whose boyfriend, Gordon Wood, was employed by Mr Rivkin as a "gopher" Mr Rivkin had his day in the witness box.

A jury last year dismissed Mr Rivkin's claim that the now defunct Witness program implied he was involved with her death. But the jury agreed that he had been defamed by the implication that Mr Rivkin, who was regarded by Mr Wood as a father figure, had lavished gifts on the much younger man and had homosexual sex.

Mr McClintock said the sting for Witness was the allegation that Ms Byrne had put Mr Wood under surveillance, and on the day of her death "caught" the two men having sex. Mr Rivkin said the sex accusation was "terribly false", and offered $1 million if anyone could produce the supposed surveillance material which he knew could not exist. He denied any involvement in Ms Byrne's death. Mr Rivkin said he had given Mr Wood clothes, but said he had a "guilt complex" about shopping and bought clothes for "hundreds" of people. The same applied to the gift of a Rolex watch. He said after he sacked Mr Wood, he let him to keep a Suzuki car. He said he financed Mr Wood and Ms Byrne's Potts Point flat after her father backed out of funding their deposit. However,rolex oyster datejust perpetual replica, he insisted on being mortgagor on the title,fake rolex datejust, and ended up being mortgagor in possession. He said no repayments were made to him.

Mr Rivkin said it was impossible to describe how much hurt he felt by the homosexual sex imputation the entire story and its implications had been "disgusting". However,fake oyster datejust rolex, acting judge Gerald Cripps ruled that he had to restrict his answers to the single defamation finding of the jury.

One of his five children, Damien, said stories in the media after the coroner's inquest had left his father withdrawn, upset and depressed. He said his father had taken to staying in bed a lot.

Mr Rivkin said he watched the Witness program in his kitchen. "I felt I was being led to the gallows. It's a feeling you'd have if you were going to be executed,fake oyster perpetual datejust rolex."

He felt betrayed by the presenter, Paul Barry, who he had entertained on his luxury cruiser. He was outraged that "someone who had been subject to my hospitality could come up with so many lies."

He agreed that before the Channel 7 program, and others in the Herald over which he had unsuccessfully sued, he had been a "media nymphomaniac". But he had changed his mind about the media. "Only a fool wouldn't have," he said.

Channel 7 has countered that it had qualified privilege and broadcast the story in the public interest, and that it was published in circumstances where Mr Rivkin was unlikely to suffer harm. The case continues.

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