How Justice Michael Lee untangled the Higgins-Lehrmann ‘omnishambles’

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It was a masterclass in dispassionate legal dissection with lessons for future defamation and sexual assault prosecutions, and for media practice

Bruce Lehrmann and Justice Michael Lee, who observed in his defamation case judgment that ‘having escaped the lion’s den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of coming back for his hat’.Bruce Lehrmann and Justice Michael Lee, who observed in his defamation case judgment that ‘having escaped the lion’s den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of coming back for his hat’.

The fact that Lehrmann has had no criminal findings against him on Higgins’s rape allegation yet chose to launch defamation proceedings that risked the kind of civil ruling now delivered is why Justice Lee remarked that “having escaped the lion’s den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of coming back for his hat”.Lee started his task by examining what was originally alleged on Network Ten’s The Project in 2021. He determined from the outset that the program contained not one allegation but two.

To determine the truth question, Lee assessed the rape and cover-up allegations separately. He found the first proven, the second not. Potentially crucially for future sexual assault cases, Lee found that some of her subsequent recollections were wrong and behaviour contradictory but that the testimony had “a general thread” consistent with the actions and attempted memory corrections of a person traumatised by sexual assault.Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what’s happening and why it mattersIn contrast, Lee branded Lehrmann a liar, not compulsive but persistent.

He found The Project team did not do as much as they could and should have to establish if Higgins’s allegations were true, including not trying hard enough to get Lehrmann’s side of the story.

 

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