Key Factors
- Alleged rapist Bruce Lehrmann was described as a “essentially dishonest man” in court docket.
- Lehrmann is suing Community Ten and Lisa Wilkinson over a broadcast aired in 2021.
- Counsel representing Lehrmann will give closing submissions on Friday.
This text incorporates references to rape and sexual assault.
Broadcaster Ten has accused Bruce Lehrmann of constructing weird and absurd lies round his alleged rape of Brittany Higgins, in closing statements of their defence within the high-profile defamation trial.
Lehrmann introduced defamation motion towards Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over a February 2021 interview with Higgins broadcast on the Venture, which didn’t title the previous Liberal staffer, however which alleged a rape had occurred in Parliament Home.
Lehrmann denies he assaulted Higgins and asserts that no intercourse happened.
Legal professionals for Community Ten have rejected Lehrmann’s claims that nothing sexual occurred between him and Higgins in Senator Linda Reynolds’ workplace at Parliament Home in March 2019.
Ten and Wilkinson’s legal professionals make closing submissions
Giving closing submissions within the defamation case introduced by Lehrmann, Ten’s barrister Matthew Collins KC mentioned the previous Liberal staffer was evasive and defensive when giving proof.
He made “weird” and “absurd” lies about what he claimed occurred, the barrister advised Justice Michael Lee.
“Mr Lehrmann was revealed to be a essentially dishonest man who was ready to say or do something he perceived to advance his pursuits,” Collins mentioned.
Wilkinson’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC mentioned Lehrmann had been “locked in” to his lie that nothing untoward occurred when he first spoke to police in April 2021 after which a sequence of additional lies flowed from that.
“One has to surprise if Mr Lehrmann is only a compulsive liar … or whether or not the lies which were advised have been directed to masking up the truth that he had intercourse with Ms Higgins,” she mentioned.
Collins argued Lehrmann was not identifiable resulting from The Venture report aside from amongst a small group of people who already knew of an alleged incident in Parliament Home virtually two years earlier.
Even when Lehrmann succeeded in his defamation case, any damages he obtained can be restricted in consequence, he mentioned.
Chrysanthou went additional saying that if there was a small group of people that may very well be the accused particular person talked about within the report, then that story was incapable of carrying an imputation of guilt.
‘They weren’t there to play Scrabble,’ Ten’s lawyer argues
Collins urged Lee to search out sexual activity, whether or not consensual or non-consensual, occurred that evening given Higgins was later seen by a safety guard bare and handed out on the minister’s sofa.
“They weren’t there to play Scrabble,” Collins mentioned.
“There is a restricted universe of issues that plausibly occurred.”
If the choose discovered consensual intercourse had occurred, it was “recreation over” for Lehrmann due to his continuous denials that something occurred, he submitted.
Collins mentioned Higgins, then again, had given compelling, distressing and plausible proof concerning the rape allegation.
She additionally made applicable admissions about errors in her prior variations of occasions, he mentioned.
The choose was merely required to determine whether or not the core allegation of rape occurred, Collins mentioned.
Ten didn’t have to show claims Higgins felt compelled to stay silent as none of her former superiors — Senator Reynolds, chief of workers Fiona Brown or Senator Michaelia Money — have been suing for defamation on this case, Collins mentioned.
Ten can be operating a justification defence by which it has to show it was affordable in publishing an article of public curiosity.
Lee may need to grapple with what, if any, damages Lehrmann receives if the rape declare is proven to be true however Higgins’ claims concerning the actions of others in Parliament Home are discovered to be false.
Chrysanthou mentioned her consumer performed a “very restricted function” and had no decision-making energy in truly creating the printed materials lastly aired in The Venture report.
Counsel representing Lehrmann will give closing submissions on Friday.
Lehrmann’s trial within the ACT Supreme Courtroom on a cost of raping Higgins was derailed by juror misconduct.
Lehrman pled not responsible to the fees. No discovering of reality has been made by a court docket in relation to the felony costs.
Prosecutors didn’t search a second trial, citing issues for Higgins’ psychological well being.
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