Perth Voice Interactive

Bayswater mayor Terry Kenyon and two of his councillors have agreed to settle in a bitter, drawn-out defamation case.

Cr Kenyon was suing Mike Anderton and Mike Sabatino over information that appeared in articles in the media in 2009 and 2010.

The articles—related to CCTV footage of Cr Kenyon carrying a bottle to a room of ratepayers during the 2009 council elections—had been sent to the Crime and Corruption Commission by Crs Sabatino and Anderton.

The CCC later referred the matter to the WA local government department which took no action against the mayor.

The settlement, still being negotiated, will make a dent in Cr Kenyon’s legal bill. The Voice has heard varying estimations of the bill, ranging from $300,000 up to $500,000.

Cr’s Anderton and Sabatino have each spent over $100,000 on legal representation.

Cr Kenyon won the first phase of the complex legal battle in March when WA Supreme Court judge Rene Le Miere ruled Cr Kenyon had proved the two councillors had effectively published the information by leaking the CCC submission to the media.

Cr Kenyon decided not to go ahead with the second phase—proving that articles in WA Today and the Sunday Times had defamed him—and instead offered to settle.

In December 2009 former mayor Lou Magro met with Sunday Times journo Glenn Cordingley at a coffee shop, where they discussed the CCC submission. Mr Magro, a political ally of Crs Sabatino and Anderton, gave him a copy.

Crs Anderton and Sabatino declined to comment, saying the matter was confidential.

Cr Kenyon, for several years, has refused to speak to the Voice.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK