Fairfax Media’s claim that it did not get a fair trial continued the harm caused to the reputation of West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle, a judge has been told.

On Monday, a New South Wales supreme court jury found in favour of Gayle who sued for defamation over articles which claimed he exposed himself to a female massage therapist in the team dressing room during a Sydney training session at the 2015 World Cup.

At a damages award hearing on Tuesday, Gayle’s barrister Bruce McClintock SC said Fairfax had put out a press release saying it did not get a fair trial which meant they were saying the defamatory claims “were in fact true”.

“It is a repetition of the defamation ... continuing the harm to my client’s reputation,” he said.

The Fairfax statement said it was seriously considering an appeal, saying it believed the company did not get a fair trial after its failed application to have the jury discharged.

McClintock said it was “extremely disappointing” that an organisation such as Fairfax “should try and go on with a fight like this”.

“I utterly reject the suggestion that Fairfax did not get a fair trial,” he said.

Justice Lucy McCallum said she was troubled by the statement, which seemed to be a fairly clear criticism of the court published immediately after the jury’s verdict.

She asked if Fairfax stood by the statement. Its barrister Matthew Collins QC said it did, saying: “the complaint is there was an error made yesterday when the jury was not discharged”.

The parties submitted written submissions on damages before the judge adjourned the hearing to a date to be fixed to hand down her decision.