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Poor Indeed.

NED McCANN

Who steals my purse, steals trash…. But he that filches

from me my good name makes me poor indeed.

The above line from Othello could well have been the

motivation for the solicitor, John Marsden, to mount his

defamation case against Channel 7.

On? 7 went to air with the sensational story that

Marsden had enjoyed sex with underage boys, some as

young as 13, at his home and in the sordid cubicles of

Castella's nightclub. Nonewithstanding that the boys

were mostly, and admittedly, street wise prostitutes who

offered their bodies,'cracked it with men for money,' as

one of them expressed it, it is a grave offence for a

man, or women, to take such boys up on their offer.

Marsden , who, while freely admitting to being an active

homosexual, claimed that he never, knowingly or

otherwise, had it off, with any underaged person; and

that 7 had defamed him by stating that he had.

In Australia, the laws relating to defamation are based

on ?. Truth is no defence. If someone should reveal a

sordid little secret to the general public, leading to

the detriment of your good name and general well being,

you have been defamed and can take action against those

who have so defamed you.

New South Wales' Supreme Court is situated,

unfortunatly or perhaps appropiatly, considering the

nature of the case, in Sydney's Queen's Square. 10c,

where the case is being heard, is decorated bland on

blond. Cream walls surmount light oak woodwork which

makes up the witness box,and the raised dais where the

judge sits. Beneath the judge are the clerks of court

and beneath them , before an enormous table littered

with files and folders, sit the army supporting the

plaintiff and defendant. Marsden, the plaintiff,

although flanked by his legal team , seems to sit apart.

Marsden would be the despair of the style police. While

the rest of the team are dressed in sober black, he

wears a most dreadful suit wrinkling, puckering at the

seams, showing the obvious shoulder padding. When he

crosses his legs, which is frequently,and with obvious

difficulty, considering his substantial girth, it is

noted that his trouser turn up has long discarded the

stitching and is kept together with a paper clip.

Marsden does not have a stomach - he has a belly,

swelling enormously from a tightly belted waistband. His

ears are pendulous and his nose the size of a small

bottle. His hair, reddish brown, considering his age

shows no sign of grey, and could be dyed; the bright

yellow tie does not help the image in the least. One

would wonder who of homosexual persuation would find

this Marsden so appealling as to make it with him for

free. Nevertheless, this guy feels he has been defamed

by 7 and therebye hangs the tale.

The boys, Marsden is alleged to have fucked, are no

longer boys. Brothers David and John Maynard, now

young men in their early thirties, take the stand.





C