Defamation lawsuit: Influencer Rachel Wong fails to search out lady she accuses of infidelity in contempt

SINGAPORE – Social media influencer Rachel Wong has hit another stumbling block in her defamation lawsuit against another woman who she took to Instagram to accuse her of being unfaithful to her ex-husband and branding her the “cheater of 2020”.

On Friday (April 29), a district judge found that their prosecutor, Ms. Olivia Wu, had committed no contempt of court. This comes after Ms Wong, 27, filed a contempt case against Ms Wu, saying she failed to meet the time limits set by the court.

Parties in civil litigation must file and exchange sworn evidence serving as witness testimony before a trial can take place. However, Ms. Wu did not submit her affidavit before the Jan. 6 deadline.

Friday’s development came after Ms Wong was separately ordered by a district court official in February to hand over her diary entries and correspondence with two men to Ms Wu in support of infidelity claims.

Ms Wong’s appeal against that decision was dismissed by Chief District Judge Victor Yeo last month. She has since appealed to the High Court.

WHAT HAPPENED

The defamation lawsuit filed by Ms. Wong last August was prompted by six Instagram stories titled “Cheater of 2020” that Ms. Wu posted to her account in December 2020.

Ms. Wong is seeking S$150,000 in damages from Ms. Wu, including aggravated damages, for the Instagram posts.

Ms Wong was married to national footballer Anders Aplin and Ms Wu claimed in the posts that Ms Wong cheated on him. The couple met while studying at Nanyang Technological University and dated for six years before wedding on December 27, 2019.

About four months later, they decided to annul the marriage. Their cancellation was completed around March last year.

In her Instagram Stories, Ms. Wu, who is an acquaintance of Mr. Aplin’s current girlfriend, accused Ms. Wong of being intimate with her fitness trainer and another boyfriend. The friend was also the emcee at the wedding.

Ms. Wu further claimed that Ms. Wong had sex with the emcee, Mr. Alan Wan, on her wedding night.

As for the fitness trainer, Ms Wu claimed he had “intimate and sexual conversations” with Ms Wong via text messages on Telegram when she was dating Mr Aplin.

Ms Wong then sued Ms Wu for defamation, claiming that the Instagram Stories had caused her to tarnish her reputation as a full-time social media influencer who relied on her image to secure partnership deals.

She filed the lawsuit when Ms. Wu refused to apologize for the posts and denied they were defamatory.

In her lawsuit, Ms. Wong claimed that unless she really intended to marry Mr. Aplin, she would not have had a high-profile pre-wedding photoshoot. She said she “fully intended” to marry him before the wedding.

She also claimed that she, Mr Wan and another friend helped Mr Aplin to her hotel room on the night of their wedding when he passed out from alcohol poisoning. She added that she was never alone in the hotel room with Mr. Wan at the time.

Ms. Wu countered that the posts are not defamatory because they are “essentially true.” She has pleaded defense of fair comment.

PREVIOUS COURT PROCEEDINGS

In February, District Court official Lewis Tan approved Ms. Wu’s application to receive correspondence between Ms. Wong and the two men from 2016 to 2020 and her diary entries from 2018 to 2020 on Mr. Wan.

Ms Wong’s lawyer Clarence Lun of Fervent Chambers had opposed the request, saying it was a “fishing expedition” that would violate her privacy and confidentiality.

However, Mr. Tan called the materials “clearly relevant” as they would help establish the truth.

Earlier that month, Ms. Wong was granted permission to file a separate contempt of court lawsuit against Ms. Wu. A two-day trial was then held over the matter.

NOT ALL MISSING DATES IS CONTEMPT

then On Friday, District Judge Tan May Tee ruled that Ms. Wu had not violated the court’s order regarding the time limit set.

The judge found that 10 days before the deadline for filing her affidavits, Ms. Wu had suggested through her attorneys that the deadline be extended so that she could request Ms. Wong’s correspondence.

Mr. Lun rejected the suggestion, calling it an abuse of the court process. He then told Ms. Wu that if she failed to file and exchange affidavits by January 6, she would be violating the court order.

When Ms. Wu failed to do so, Ms. Wong applied for permission to start a misconduct case.

District Judge Tan ruled that not every violation constitutes contempt. She then found that Ms. Wong had not proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the violation was so serious and intentional as to undermine the fair administration of justice.

The judge agreed that Ms. Wu could have filed and exchanged affidavits in accordance with the court order in a timely manner before requesting Ms. Wong’s correspondence.

However, the postponement of the schedule would result in “a quicker and more economical settlement of the lawsuit” rather than both sides submitting supplementary affidavits at a later date, the judge stressed.

District Judge Tan also noted that Ms. Wu’s request for Ms. Wong’s correspondence was still granted, and this reinforced her argument that it was legitimate to postpone the schedule.

Ms. Wu’s failure to file and exchange affidavits cannot be described as blatant or inexcusable or as a clear contempt for the court, the judge added.

The judge then ordered Ms. Wong to pay Ms. Wu costs of S$5,200 – a lower amount than proposed by Ms. Wu’s attorney, Gerard Quek.

COMPLAINTS AGAINST DEEPFAKE VIDEOS

After Friday’s hearing, Mr. Lun told TODAY they were disappointed with the outcome, noting that Ms. Wu had already sought Ms. Wong’s correspondence before filing the lawsuit.

Ms. Wong has not yet decided whether or not to appeal District Judge Tan’s decision.

The influencer told TODAY that she doesn’t know Ms. Wu and hasn’t spoken to Mr. Aplin since mid-2020.

He was named as one of Ms. Wu’s witnesses during the lawsuit trial, for which no dates have yet been set.

Ms Wong said she traveled alone to India for a month after her wedding because she “didn’t feel like I should feel as a person who just got married” and wanted to be away from everyone. “In that month, I realized this just wasn’t the life I wanted,” she added.

Ms Wong also said she was bullied online after the allegations surfaced and deepfake videos of her – in which her face was spliced ​​onto pornographic videos – began circulating the internet. She has filed a judicial complaint over the videos.

She added that she initially wanted to remain silent when Ms. Wu published the allegations, but then the situation “got out of control.”

She said: “If they don’t learn when to stop and they don’t stop and realize this bullying has to stop, then don’t blame me for doing anything about it.

“Whether I win the case or not, I took the step to stand up for myself.”