Libel: British Court Orders Investigative Journalist Hundeyin To Pay £95,000 As Damages

The Royal Courts of Justice, a British court, has found a self-styled Nigerian investigative journalist, David Hundeyin, guilty of libel and has ordered him to pay the sum of £95,000 as damages to Charles Northcott.

The complainant Northcott works with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Hundeyin made weighty allegations against him in his ”Journalism Career Graveyard” article.

Hundeyin had made several allegations against Northcott following the publication of his article, including accusing Northcott of using his position as the director of the documentary film to obtain sexual favours from Kiki Mordi, Nigerian Emmy-nominated journalist, who was the on-screen reporter for the BBC’s Sex for Grades documentary.

“I accept C’s evidence that D’s libel has had a very serious impact on him both professionally and personally and caused him serious harm and distress. His witness statement adopts and develops the particulars of harm pleaded in the PoC, and I accept both in their entirety.

“The court awards C £95,000 damages, including aggravated damages. This is an appropriate sum to compensate C for the damage to his reputation caused by D and to vindicate his good name; and it takes appropriate account of the distress, hurt and humiliation which D’s false and defamatory publication has caused him, as well as D’s aggravating conduct,” the court’s document on the case read in part.

It also ordered the website operators to remove the relevant part of Hundeyin’s article, which it found offensive.

The court passed the judgement on October 8, 2024. Northcott, the complainant, was represented by Ms Wilson, while Hundeyin was neither present nor represented in court. The court noted that it passed judgement in Hundeyin’s absence.

In 2019, freelance journalist Ms Mordi collaborated with a team from the BBC to produce a 54-minute documentary. This documentary exposed how lecturers at certain Nigerian universities prey on vulnerable female students, such as those facing academic challenges, seeking admission, or in need of mentorship, by demanding sexual favours in exchange for academic benefits.

She worked alongside Norcott and other journalists on the project.

Three years after the release of the documentary, Hundeyin published an article titled “Journalism Career Graveyard”, where he accused Norcott of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with Mordi and favoured her to work on the Sex for Grades documentary while sidelining and deceiving Oge Obi, whom Hundeyin claimed was the brain behind the BBC documentary.

In September 2022, X (formerly Twitter) went agog after Hundeyin shared the expose on his profile. The article, its associated hashtags, and tweets garnered substantive traction following Hundeyin’s post.

Northcott said the post received more than 40 million online impressions between September 27 and October 31, 2022.

“I worked with a colleague to run an analysis of the defamatory Article, and its associated hashtags and tweets by Mr Hundeyin, to see how far it had spread between 27 September and 31 October 2022. This analysis suggested the content had received more than 40 million online impressions during this period (which are calculated by tracking the total number of times the content was displayed across Twitter on users’ feeds and on search results). A large percentage of these would have been abroad, but a very significant proportion of Mr Hundeyin’s followers are in England and Wales. He was educated here, has been invited to speak publicly here … and he’s launched two books here – which are sold in British bookstores,” Northcott’s statement read.

Following the article’s publication, Hundeyin made posts where he tagged Mordi’s handle on X, daring her and others who had issues with the expose to sue him.

On one occasion, he wrote: “Then why don’t you sue me for categorically stating that you had sex multiple times with @CNorthcott1 in the course of producing that documentary and that this formed the sole basis of your fraudulent “career”?…,” Hundeyin’s post on October 1, 2022, read in part.

Another of his posts read, “As for the people who are constantly threatening ‘legal steps’ because my stories have exposed their true nature to their international donors, NGOs and state actors, here is @WestAfricaWeek’s address. If you don’t sue me, you are all bastards. I double dare you…”

Hundeyin also posted a video of Northcott and Mordi climbing onto the base of a statue in Trafalgar Square. Hundeyin wrote, “Hi @kikimordi. I’m sure you never thought this video of you and @CNorthcott1 would ever surface, but that is why real journalism will never die when people like me are around. Your ‘career’ is over, you glory hunting, honey trapping fraud!’ as the video’s caption.

Northcott sued Hundeyin for libel, stating that his actions seriously impacted his career and caused him damages. The court ordered Hundeyin to take down the article but ignored the orders.

The court noted that the video showed nothing to corroborate the Defendant’s allegations of an inappropriate sexual relationship. It added that Hundeyin’s behaviour post-publication comfortably fell within the principles of aggravated damages and trolling, which caused Mordi and Northcott distress.

“All of D’s behaviour post-publication comfortably falls within the principles in relation to aggravated damages that I outlined earlier. D, having seriously libelled C, then embarked upon a campaign of trolling and persecution in a manner calculated to cause C and Ms Mordi maximum distress and damage. Moreover, he has failed to take down the Article as ordered by this court in July,” the court ruled.