No good reason demonstrated for delay in commencement of defamation proceedings

Defamation – application to set aside leave to commence defamation proceedings outside the period of one year from the date of accrual of his cause of action - date of accrual – application should have been made on notice - plaintiff to satisfy the Court now that it is in the interests of justice that he be permitted to commence his proceedings outside the period of one year from the date of the accrual of his cause of action - necessary that the plaintiff establishes on the basis of a probability the date of accrual of his cause of action - by reason of a fraudulent concealment of his cause of action by the defendants, or at least some of them, the date of accrual of his cause of action is postponed - outer limit of two years for defamation proceedings – correspondence with prison governor – Court determines that the language of the letters suggests a continuum up to the date of accrual alleged rather than that he heard these allegations for the first time on that date – solicitor’s letter suggests knowledge prior to the date suggested – letter not referred to in grounding affidavit – plaintiff bears burden of proving an entitlement to extend time - reasons for not having commenced proceedings within a year - Court has no power to extend time beyond two years from that accrual - insufficient for the plaintiff to simply make the bare and unsupported assertion on affidavit that his solicitor has made an error – one day outside the two year outer limit – argued that the plaintiff should be able to commence the proceedings and the statute could be pleaded as a preliminary issue - Court must make a determination as to the date of accrual of the plaintiff’s action – plaintiff failed to discharge the onus – delay in commencement of proceedings – fraudulent commencement does not apply to the facts of the case - no good reason has been demonstrated by the plaintiff for the delay in the commencement of these proceedings – leave to commence defamation proceedings set aside and proceedings struck out.