Man wrongly named Bondi killer settles

Seven Network have settled a defamation case filed by a man wrongly identified as the Bondi Junction stabbing killer.

Benjamin Cohen was wrongly named by Sunrise host Matt Shirvington during a package filmed outside the Westfield shopping centre and aired the day after the stabbing attack unfolded on April 13.

Soon after, the network named the actual killer, 40-year-old Queensland man Joel Cauchi and apologised for the error.

A Seven spokesperson confirmed on Friday that the parties have reached a settlement on confidential terms.

“As Seven stated earlier, it was a mistake to name Mr Benjamin Cohen as the Bondi Westfield attacker,” the spokesperson said.

“Seven has apologised to Mr Cohen.

“The parties have reached a settlement on confidential terms.”

Mr Cohen’s lawyer Patrick George also confirmed the settlement in a statement on Friday, just ten days after he was first engaged to act on Mr Cohen’s behalf during the defamation proceedings.

A letter addressed to Mr Cohen - sighted by NCA NewsWire - and signed by Seven West Media managing director and chief executive Jeff Howard on Tuesday described the error as a “grave mistake”.

“Seven accepts the identification was a grave mistake and these assertions were entirely false and without basis,” Mr Howard said in the letter.

He claims that Seven made attempts to contact Mr Cohen after the error was realised but were unable to find a contact number until his mother “rang the newsroom”.

“Seven’s staff, including especially its on-air presenters Mr Shirvington and Ms McLeod, are devastated that the error was made and that it has affected you,” Mr Howard said.

However, he clarified that the error originated at the producer level and the presenters were in no way involved in “scripting the words” which were published.

Mr Cohen has also instructed his lawyer to make representations to NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb concerning the conduct of certain persons on social media who “originated, agitated or facilitated this dangerous and harmful false accusation”.

“Users who abuse a platform to target individuals or communities should be held accountable for the consequences of their actions, and platforms should be more accountable for the content they host,” he said.

Sunrise host Matt Shirvington named Mr Cohen during a pre-recorded package filmed outside the Westfield and aired about 6.05am the day after the attack.

Reporter Lucy McLeod repeated the name during a live-cross later on Sunday.

Before then, Mr Cohen’s picture had been circulating for hours on social media, with online trolls sharing screenshots of his LinkedIn profile.

In a video statement shared later that day, Mr Cohen said being named as a murderer on multiple national broadcasts had been “highly distressing”.

“It’s extremely disappointing to me to see people mindlessly propagating information like this without even the slightest thought put into fact checking,” Mr Cohen said.

“But what’s even more disappointing to me is a major news network doing this, using my name without waiting for a statement from police to verify this or going out to try and verify it themselves.”