A biography about Patricia De Lille had invaded the right to privacy of three women whose names and HIV-positive status were disclosed in it, the Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday.

The three women were each awarded R35 000 in damages, from Patricia de Lille, author Charlene Smith and publishers New Africa Books.

"Smith and De Lille were liable for damages together with the publishers due to their infringement of the applicants' rights to privacy and dignity from the moment of the publication of the book...," the court said.

"The use of pseudonyms instead of the applicants' real names would not have rendered the book any less authentic and nowhere could it be shown that the public interest demanded otherwise...".

In its judgment the Constitutional court set aside an earlier Johannesburg High Court decision that disclosing the names was not unlawful, as Smith and De Lille were not negligent and did not act with the intent to reveal private medical facts.

Only the publisher was held liable by the high court, and was ordered to pay the three women R15 000 in damages each, and to delete any references to the women in the unsold copies of the biography.

The women claimed that their right to privacy, dignity, psychological integrity and mental and intellectual well being were breached by the disclosure.

One complainant said her boyfriend, who had not known about her HIV status, burned down her home and then deserted her after reading the book. -

Sapa