Explosive West Indies opener Chris Gayle has been awarded $300,000 dollars in damages by a court in Australia.

It comes three months after a jury in New South Wales found he was defamed in articles – published in The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Canberra Times – which claimed he had exposed himself indecently to female masseuse Leanne Russell in the Windies team dressing room in Sydney during the 2015 World Cup.

Leanne Russell

The four-person jury also found Fairfax Media was motivated by malice, and rejected the media group’s defense of qualified privilege, which argues the organization acted reasonably by publishing information which is in the public interest.

Gayle’s legal team argued that Fairfax journalists wanted to “destroy” the cricketer.

New South Wales Supreme Court Justice Lucy McCallum made the award.

She said in her decision that the defamation “went to the heart of Mr Gayle’s professional life as a respected batsman” and “had particular resonance in cricketing circles”.

The figure is at the lower end of the scale compared with recent defamation pay-outs, and is within the statutory cap of $389,500 on general damages for non-economic loss.

Aggravated damages were not awarded.

Fairfax Media in response says it will immediately appeal the verdict and the pay-out confirms the appalling burden of defamation laws in Australia.