Rachelle Louise, the former girlfriend of convicted murderer Simon Gittany, says she sold her story to Channel Seven because she was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.
Ms Louise is suing Nationwide News for defamation over three articles published by The Daily Telegraph in late 2013 and early 2014, after she supported her then boyfriend throughout his murder trial.
On Thursday, News' barrister Matthew Collins, QC, read a series of emails between Ms Louise and Nick Farrow, a producer working for Channel Seven's flagship Sunday Night program. Ms Louise had considered offers from the network and its rival Channel Nine but ultimately chose to go with Seven's investigative reporters Ross Coulthart and Steve Pennells.
In an email to Farrow on December 9, 2013, Ms Louise said of Justice Lucy McCallum, the judge in Gittany's trial: "Just found out the judge is divorced. Told you. They ALL have men issues."
Dr Collins put to Ms Louise that the comment "was casting aspersions on her impartiality", Ms Louise replied: "I was very upset at this time and I was using my anger in inappropriate ways."
In an email on December 15, 2013, Ms Louise wrote: "I'm very excited to start the investigations."
Dr Collins suggested that, far from being reluctant to sell her story to the media, as she testified earlier in the hearing, Ms Louise was "happy" to be paid for going on commercial television.
"I wasn't excited about selling my story, I was excited about trying to get out our side of the story."
In further emails, Farrow discussed a lunch between Ms Louise and the program's executive producer Mark Llewellyn at Bondi's Icebergs restaurant. Farrow said his boss was a "hoot" and "loves a party".
"Who knows, we might all turn out to be friends after this," Ms Louise wrote in reply.
Ms Louise told the jury she thought the Channel Seven reporters were "nice people".
The jury of four heard that, in emails to the Channel Seven crew, Ms Louise said that, contrary to the evidence presented at trial, it was the victim, Lisa Cecilia Harnum, who controlled Gittany in their turbulent relationship.
Ms Louise gave Channel Seven information gleaned from Ms Harnum's medical records, including her struggle with the eating disorder anorexia nervosa.
"That is a disgraceful thing to say ... it shows no respect for the dead," Dr Collins said.
"These are facts," Ms Louise replied.
"Anorexia is a mental illness. It's not normal to vomit your food. I was stating a fact," she said.
Mr Collins said: "You were motived by the money you were going to be paid", adding she could have told her story to any number of media outlets without requesting a fee.
"Like The Daily Telegraph?" Ms Louise said.
"I was hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt for paying for the trial. I needed to repay people who lent us money for the trial."
Dr Collins took Ms Louise through the concluding paragraphs of Gittany's trial Justice McCallum's judgment, asking if she thought the findings were incorrect.
"I think she got it wrong, yes," Ms Louise said.
Ms Louise also said she believed Gittany's version of events surrounding his conviction for drug dealing in 2000.
Gittany pleaded guilty to supplying ecstasy, but Ms Louise said he was holding the drugs for a friend.
"People don't plead guilty to drug supply unless they are guilty," Dr Collins said.
"His lawyer advised him to plead guilty," Ms Louise said.
Dr Collins suggested it was another example of how Ms Louise's personal feelings for her former boyfriend was clouding her ability to reason. Ms Louise disagreed.
Gittany is serving a minimum of 18 years' jail for the murder of Ms Harnum, whom he dropped from a 15th floor balcony at the Hyde Apartments in Sydney in July 2011.
Ms Louise is arguing that three articles published in The Daily Telegraph carried defamatory imputations, including that she was a prostitute, a stripper, a "ridiculous" person, that she had no respect for the dead and was deluded for believing in Gittany's innocence.
The hearing continues.
