Key PointsAlleged rapist Bruce Lehrmann was described as a “essentially dishonest man” in courtroom.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 creating 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.
Attorneys 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 stated 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 stated.
Wilkinson’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC stated 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 had been directed to overlaying up the truth that he had intercourse with Ms Higgins,” she stated.
Collins argued Lehrmann was not identifiable resulting from The Venture report apart 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 acquired could be restricted in consequence, he stated.
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 seek 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 stated.
“There is a restricted universe of issues that plausibly occurred.”
If the decide discovered consensual intercourse had occurred, it was “sport over” for Lehrmann due to his continuous denials that something occurred, he submitted.
Collins stated Higgins, then again, had given compelling, distressing and plausible proof in regards to the rape allegation.
She additionally made applicable admissions about errors in her prior variations of occasions, he stated.
The decide was merely required to determine whether or not the core allegation of rape occurred, Collins stated.
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 — had been suing for defamation on this case, Collins stated.
Ten can be operating a justification defence during which it has to show it was cheap in publishing an article of public curiosity.
Lee might need to grapple with what, if any, damages Lehrmann receives if the rape declare is proven to be true however Higgins’ claims in regards to the actions of others in Parliament Home are discovered to be false.
Chrysanthou stated her shopper 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 Court docket on a cost of raping Higgins was derailed by juror misconduct.
Lehrman pled not responsible to the costs. No discovering of truth has been made by a courtroom in relation to the felony fees.
Prosecutors didn’t search a second trial, citing issues for Higgins’ psychological well being.
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