The Citizen newspaper's description of Robert McBride as a “murderer” who was “without contrition” was unfair, the Constitutional Court heard on Thursday.
“We submit that it was stated as fact that he has no contrition,” McBride's lawyer Daniel Berger SC said.
“The truth is that he is contrite and he has apologised numerous times in public.”
The accusations were made against McBride in an editorial in The Citizen newspaper in 2003, when McBride was being considered for the post of Ekurhuleni metro police chief.
Burger said the editorial was unfair because it made no mention of his contrition, or his successful application for amnesty from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
However, Wim Trengove, for The Citizen, told the court a reasonable reader would have knowledge of the amnesty, because it had been mentioned in an article in the paper the previous day.
Burger countered a reader may not have read the previous article or even the entire article.
The case first found its way to the High Court in Johannesburg, which ruled that the newspaper had defamed McBride. The Supreme Court of Appeal then partially upheld the newspaper's appeal.
McBride was granted amnesty for planting a bomb at Magoo's Bar in Durban in 1986. Three women were killed in the blast. - Sapa