Johannesburg — A COURT has awarded damages of R75 000 to an Eastern Cape lawyer for defamatory statements published about him on an internet site SA's first successful lawsuit for libel on the web.

The allegation, made by retired academic Johann Lochner and circulated widely on the internet, suggested that Port Elizabeth advocate Christiaan Mouton had made false and misleading submissions to the Supreme Court of Appeal during an appeal hearing for one of his clients.

Cape High Court Judge John Foxcroft last week awarded Mouton damages of R75000, saying that he viewed internet defamation in a serious light as publication was on an "enormous scale".

The judge rejected Lochner's argument that he was alerting the public to the danger of assaults on children, saying that was not a sufficient reason to heap abuse on someone and then claim that the public had a right to know.

Foxcroft also issued an interdict against Lochner preventing him from publishing any further comments on the internet.

Wim Mostert of Deloitte's legal division said there had never been any doubt that a person could be sued for defamation on the internet.