A student wrongly named by Channel Seven as the crazed Bondi Junction mass killer has settled with the network for an undisclosed amount.
Benjamin Cohen’s name was wrongly linked to the deadly April 13 attack — which killed five women and one man — by Sunrise co-host Matt Shirvington shortly after 6 a.m. the next day.
The shocking error was repeated by journalist Lucy McLeod 10 minutes later.
Seven admitted in a lengthy apology to Mr Cohen on Friday that it only discovered his mistake when his mother called their newsroom.
Mr Cohen has retained two of Australia’s leading defamation lawyers, Patrick George of Giles George as solicitor and Sue Chrysanthou SC as solicitor, to bring civil action against the network.
A notice of concern was sent to Seven last week, with the network revealing on Friday it had settled with the university student but the terms were confidential.
Joel Cauchi, 40, a Queensland man, has since been identified as the man wearing an Australian Kangaroos jersey who went on a murderous rampage through the popular shopping center in Sydney’s eastern suburbs.
Ben Cohen (pictured) has been wrongly identified by internet detectives as the knifeman behind the Bondi Junction Westfield attack.
The knifeman (photographed during the attack) was revealed to be 40-year-old Joel Cauchi.
Hours after Seven’s false reports, NSW Police Minister Yasmin Catley confirmed Cauchi was the attacker who was shot dead by heroic police officer Amy Scott.
Seven issued an on-air apology to Mr Cohen on Sunday, read by journalist Sarah Jane Bell during a cross.
“Earlier this morning, reports of the incident incorrectly named the perpetrator as 40-year-old Benjamin Cohen,” she said on air.
“It was later confirmed that the 40-year-old’s name was Joel Cauchi from Queensland. Seven apologizes for any distress caused by our previous reports.
In its apology to Mr Cohen, Seven said it had “tried to find a contact number for you but didn’t have one until your mother called the newsroom”.
On Saturday evening, online trolls misidentified Mr. Cohen and his name began appearing on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Mr. Cohen told the media earlier this week that he had been inundated with friend requests and messages on social media.
“It’s gone crazy, it’s like, ‘Look, you’ve got the wrong guy,’” said Mr. Cohen, a first-year computer science student.
“People don’t really think about what they post and how it might affect someone. It’s very dangerous to see people making things up and destroying people’s lives.
Seven’s new managing director and CEO Jeff Howard, who took over after James Warburton resigned last week, said the error was a “serious error and completely without merit”.
“Seven unreservedly retracts these false allegations and apologizes to you for the harm you and your family have suffered as a result of Seven’s statements about you,” he said in a letter to Mr Cohen and published by his lawyers.
He explained that a Seven producer had wrongly assumed that information circulating online had been confirmed to be accurate.
Sunrise host Matt Shirvington incorrectly named Mr Cohen as the attacker during the network’s coverage.
“This led to the words mentioned in the Notice of Concern being included in Seven’s news broadcasts at around 6.05 and 6.15 a.m. and for a short period on Seven’s social media channels,” he said.
“The error quickly became apparent and no further airing of the name ‘Benjamin Cohen’ was made in Seven’s ongoing media coverage. Seven attempted to find a contact number for you, but did not have one until now. ‘to what your mother calls the newsroom.
“Seven staff, including its on-air presenters Mr Shirvington and Ms (Lucy) McLeod, are devastated that the error was made and that it has affected you.
“Seven would like to assure you that the error originated at the producer level and that Seven presenters were in no way involved in suggesting or scripting the published lyrics.
“Mr Shirvington and Ms McLeod would nevertheless like to offer their own personal apologies to you for the hurt and distress caused.
“While Seven is not suggesting that this is relevant to your response, we nevertheless note that the staff involved are deeply remorseful and traumatized by this error.”
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