Online Defamation: Can I sue someone if they had deleted their defamatory post on Facebook before 24 hours?

I want to know if I could still sue someone if they had deleted their defamatory post on Facebook. I have screenshot of their defamatory post as evidence and already made a police report.

Apparently the person insisted the post was deleted before 24 hours. Is there limit of time on these things? Is it a valid point ? He keep pointing that there shouldn't be much damage done. He claim his action was driven by human flaw and rage.  The defamatory post include malicious content, my photo taken without consent, and was posted in relatively well known group among my community.