Bruce Lehrmann loses defamation suit against broadcaster and journalist during 2021 interview with his accuser.
A former government official in Australia raped a colleague in the country’s Parliament, a judge has concluded, dismissing his defamation claim against a broadcaster that broadcast his accuser’s allegations.
Judge Michael Lee ruled that Bruce Lehrmann, an adviser to the previous Conservative government, was not defamed in the television interview with Brittany Higgins and that he violated her in a minister’s office in 2019.
Lee made his conclusion on the balance of probabilities, a lower standard than that used in criminal trials to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Lee said it was “more likely than not” that the former government employee was “bent on” having sex with a woman he found attractive and knew to be intoxicated.
“In his quest for gratification, he did not care one way or another whether Mrs. Higgins understood or agreed,” Lee said.
“Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins,” the judge said.
“I hasten to emphasize that this is a discovery about the balance of probabilities.”
Lee also criticized Network 10 for airing the allegations against Lehrmann, concluding that doing so “fell short of the standard of reasonableness,” and said Higgins was a “complex and, in many respects, unsatisfactory witness.”
Lehrmann made no comment to the gathered media crowd as he left the courtroom.
Lehrmann, who has always maintained his innocence, sued Network 10 and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over the 2021 interview with Higgins that failed to identify him by name.
Lehrmann went on trial for the alleged rape in 2022, but the case collapsed with no finding against him after it was discovered that a juror conducted research into the case in violation of court rules.
Prosecutors abandoned their bid for a new trial after determining it would seriously harm Higgins’ mental health.
Higgins’ allegations convulsed Australia’s political landscape when they were first made public in 2021, sparking a flurry of discussion about sexual violence and the treatment of women in politics.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
