A TikTok influencer and member of the Traveller community, who has more than 125,000 online followers, has been awarded €20,000 in damages against the retailer Zara and its security company, Bidvest Noonan, for defaming her character.
Judge Roderick Maguire said in the Circuit Civil Court that Krystal Joyce, 20, of Glendhu, Ratoath Road, Dublin 15, had been a truthful witness who had suffered significant upset, particularly when a female security member pulled back a cubicle curtain in the changing area while she was trying on clothes and only partly dressed.
"I find Ms Joyce was a truthful witness and was particularly upset because she has a social media presence through which she does her best to raise awareness for the Travelling community of which she is a member," Judge Maguire said.
Barrister Esther Earley outlined to the court how Ms Joyce would frequently visit stores and try on ladies fashions, which she would photograph in the changing rooms and then promote and recommend them to her TikTok followers, naming the shops in a complimentary mode where the items could be purchased.
Ms Earley, who appeared with Aisling Woods of Michael Kelleher Solicitors, James Street, Dublin, said Ms Joyce was stunned when she heard a security member repeatedly say within the hearing of other people: "I am calling the guards".
Ms Joyce claimed she was upset and had asked if she could leave the changing area, and was advised by security that she was not being allowed to leave.
She was eventually allowed out on the shop floor while security and shop staff continued "interrogating" her.
Judge Maguire said Ms Joyce had complained of having been subjected to a distressing incident during which there had been an implication she had been engaged in criminal activity. She had given evidence of the curtain having been opened.
"The plaintiff has given honest and forthright evidence," Judge Maguire said. He found, in particular, the evidence of the first defendant, Zara, not to be persuasive at all, and the evidence of one defence witness had not been credible in any way.
Following evidence drawn out in cross-examination by Ms Earley of a falsified note about what had happened at the time, the judge said he found it very difficult to accept anything the witness said in court given "glaring inconsistencies".
Judge Maguire held that the actions of Zara, and the security staff had been in tandem with each other and constituted a defamation of Ms Joyce that would reduce her in the eyes of right-thinking members of the public.
"This was a public place she was used to frequenting and in the habit of trying on clothes," he said. "I accept there were other people there, and I fully accept her evidence."
Judge Maguire awarded Ms Joyce €10,000 damages against ITX Retail Limited, which trades as Zara's flagship store in Blanchardstown, and a further €10,000 against Bidvest Noonan (ROI) Limited, Swords Business Park, Co Dublin, together with Circuit Court legal costs against both defendants.
