Former Carlton president Luke Sayers’ wife is escalating her legal action against him after he accused her of saying ‘Let’s see how you get out of this one’ the day after an explicit image of his genitalia was posted online, it has been reported.
Cate Sayers launched a defamation lawsuit against her husband in January, relating to the widely publicised ‘d*** pic’ scandal that unfolded early last year.
She has alleged that he implied she was behind the publication of the explicit photo, according to court documents.
Luke Sayers accused hackers of infiltrating his social media accounts and sending the graphic sexual image to a female executive at one of the club’s key sponsors.
He quit as president of the club on January 22 last year, with the announcement coming just minutes after the AFL cleared him of any wrongdoing.
In court documents, Cate Sayers claims that she was defamed after Mr Sayers provided a statutory declaration to the AFL Commission’s Integrity Unit, in which she accuses him of alleging that she was responsible for posting the lewd photo on his X account.
The legal battle between Cate and Luke Sayers (pictured together) over the former Carlton president’s ‘d**k pic’ scandal has ramped up
Cate Sayers is preparing to expand her defamation lawsuit against her estranged husband by including a claim of substantive malice and improper purpos
Now Mrs Sayers’ lawyers are preparing to ramp up the lawsuit to include a claim of ‘substantive malice and improper purpose’, News Corp reported.
Luke Sayers’ defence included the claim that his wife told him ‘Let’s see how you get out of this one’ the day after the explicit image was published, the report said.
Mr Sayers also claims Mrs Sayers is the only person who knew that the photo had been taken for ‘medical purposes’, and alleges she went through his phone and stole messages and photos in March last year, according to court documents.
He also claims she took a confidential draft statement written for submission to the AFL Integrity Unit.
The Integrity Unit did not interview Cate Sayers as part of its investigation.
Her writ alleges that her estranged husband had breached her confidence by disclosing information regarding her ‘sexual history’ and ‘personal relationships with her family members’.
Mr Sayers (pictured) is accused of implying that his wife was behind the publication of the explicit photo in January last year
Luke Sayers’ defence against the writ included the claim that his wife told him ‘Let’s see how you get out of this one’ the day after the explicit image was published
Friends of Mrs Sayers also told the publication claims that she posted the lewd image are untrue because she was 252km away from him at the time the photo was published.
Luke Sayers was in the northern Italian town of Canazei during a holiday with the estranged couple’s two daughters while Cate was in Franciacorta, roughly 230km away.
Her friends said her lack of technical skills and inability to access Mr Sayers’ passwords meant she could not have posted the image while she was away from him.
In the writ, Mrs Sayers alleges that her husband had ‘shamelessly’ published ‘knowingly false information about Cate’s personal history, health and general welfare for the improper purpose of presenting her as unstable, untrustworthy, erratic, mentally disturbed and/or as a live risk to her own safety and the health and safety of her own family’.
The document states that Mr Sayers had ‘owed her a duty of confidence to keep her private and confidential information private and confidential’.
Mrs Sayers, who is the founder and director of a not-for-profit organisation that provides fitness programmes for people with Down syndrome, is now seeking damages. Mrs Sayers claims she suffered ‘significant distress, hurt and embarrassment, entitling her to an award of equitable compensation.’
In January, a representative of Mr Sayers told the media that the former Carlton boss ‘rejects the claims being made against him’.
