The High Court will today give its decision on an attempt by Dublin nightclub owner Mr John Reynolds to prevent publication of an article in a new magazine edited by former Irish Press solicitor and convicted fraudster Mr Elio Malocco.
Mr Reynolds says the article contains allegations and accusations as to his sexual and business reputation. He claims the article is libellous and totally inaccurate.
Mr Malocco yesterday said he could defend the article's contents. In an affidavit, Mr Malocco claimed he personally saw drugs being sold to young people in the POD and Red Box nightclubs. He also said the use of the description "Gay bachelor John Reynolds" in the article did not mean he believed Mr Reynolds to be a homosexual.
Mr Reynolds, of The Cedars, Grove House, Milltown, Dublin, has applied for an interlocutory injunction to restrain the publication of the article concerning him and his business activities in a new men's magazine called Pat- rick. He is alleging that the magazine article libels him. Mr Reynolds got a temporary injunction last Friday which restrained publication until yesterday when he sought an injunction which would have continued the restraint order until the hearing of the action.
Mr Malocco said the injunction should not be granted as he could justify the contents of the article and it did not libel Mr Reynolds.
In court yesterday, Mr Justice Kelly struck out of the proceedings an affidavit by Mr Luciano Malocco, a nephew of the editor, and a number of paragraphs in Elio Malocco's affidavit. The judge said that, under court rules, they were scandalous.
The judge said many of the allegations were based on unnamed sources and were so serious that they should, at least, be made by identified persons.
Mr Garret Cooney SC, for Mr Reynolds, said the injunction should be granted because, considering the state of the evidence put before the court, the defence plea of justification could not succeed.
He said there was only one direct averment in Mr Malocco's affidavit which stated that he (Elio Malocco) personally witnessed drugs being sold openly to young people in the POD and Red Box nightclubs.
Mr Cooney said Mr Malocco was a man who had cheated his clients and professional organisation out of tens of thousands of pounds and a man on whose word no reliability could be placed.
Mr Malocco said he had sat for five hours in court and while a lot of time had been spent denigrating his character, not much time was spent on the article.
He had not heard anything from the other side saying anything in the article was untrue. The article was about drugs for sale in clubs in Dublin. They had given Mr Reynolds an opportunity to comment but he declined. In an affidavit, Mr Reynolds said the article contained allegations and accusations as to his sexual and business reputation. These were libellous and wholly inaccurate as to his sexual orientation and their inclusion were solely to sensationalise and to cause difficulty for him.
The article made references to a number of nightclubs receiving notification from gardai as to drug activity and conduct. Mr Reynolds said it was true that he had received notification as did 19 other nightclubs operating in the greater Dublin area.
In fact, it was part and parcel of an ongoing campaign supported by him and the Garda to ensure no drugs were sold in nightclubs.