Shah Alam, Dec 18 – The Sessions Court here Wednesday dismissed with costs a defamation suit filed by a bread manufacturer over the alleged discovery of a lizard in the bread bought by a consumer on Jan 6.
Judge Sabariah Othman, in her judgment, said statements and pictures released by a human resources manager, Lau Kian Eng, 42, on the matter as published in five Chinese newspapers on March 29, did not refer to the plaintiff, Gardenia Bakeries (KL) Sdn Bhd.
Sabariah said the court found the plaintiff had also failed to provide any evidence of independent witnesses to support the claim.
Gardenia Bakeries filed a defamation suit against Lau on Aug 6 through Messrs Raja, Darryl dan Loh in connection with the press conference given by Lau on March 28, which allegedly defamed the company over the alleged finding of a lizard in a packet of white bread which Lau had bought on Jan 6 at a supermarket in Bukit Tinggi, Klang.
The plaintiff claimed that the photographs of the packet of bread, submitted by Lau, as published in the newspapers affected the plaintiff’s business reputation, causing huge losses to the company.
The plaintiff claimed that pictures of the blue and red coloured packet of bread can be easily identified as bread produced by the plaintiff (Gardenia).
In addition to seeking damages, including aggravated and exemplary damages, the plaintiff had also sought an injunction to restrain the defendants from continuing to publish further statements or pictures that were defamatory to the plaintiff.
In his defence, Lau claimed the picture of the packet of bread published in the newspapers was obscured and cannot be identified.
He also claimed that his daughter had diarrhea as a result of eating the bread.
Meanwhile, Lau’s counsel, Sreekant Pillai, said his client did not seek any compensation in the case but just wanted a full investigation regarding the case.
– Bernama
