Bruce Lehrmann emerges from court on April 15, 2024 in Sydney, after hearing the judge's ruling. Photo: Getty Images / Don Arnold
Australia's Federal Court has found, on the balance of probabilities, Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.
Justice Michael Lee has found the pair had sex in the office of Senator Linda Reynolds, that Higgins did not consent, and that Lehrmann was indifferent to whether she had consented.
Justice Lee has been delivering his judgment in Lehrmann's defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
"Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins," Justice Lee said.
"I hasten to stress this is a finding on the balance of probabilities."
Ultimately, this means Lehrmann's defamation claim against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson has failed, and the evidence had proven Network Ten's substantial truth defence.
"[Mr Lehrmann] has now been found, at the civil standard of proof, to engage in a great wrong. It follows Ms Higgins has been proven to be a victim of sexual assault," he said.
"Having escaped the lion's den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of coming back for his hat."
As the proceedings concluded, Lehrmann left the court quickly, making no comment to reporters.
Wilkinson hugged her barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, and the pair left the court with their arms around each other.
Sue Chrysanthou SC hugs journalist Lisa Wilkinson as they emerge from court on April 15, 2024 in Sydney. Photo: Getty Images / Don Arnold
Lehrmann was 'hell-bent on having sex' - judge
In his judgment, Justice Lee said he was satisfied that it was "more likely than not" that Lehrmann was "so intent upon gratification to be indifferent to Ms Higgins's consent and hence went ahead with sexual intercourse without caring whether she consented".
The judge said he believed Lehrmann was "hell-bent on having sex" with Higgins.
"I consider it more likely than not, in those early hours after a long night of conviviality and drinking and having successfully brought Ms Higgins back to a secluded place, Mr Lehrmann was hell-bent on having sex with a woman he found sexually attractive and had been passionately kissing and touching and had encouraged to drink and knew had reducing inhibitions," he said.
Justice Lee told the court Network Ten had not excluded all other possible accounts of what occurred between the pair.
Lehrmann faced a criminal trial in the ACT Supreme Court in 2022, which collapsed without a verdict due to juror misconduct.
He has always maintained his innocence.
The former federal Liberal staffer brought the case against Network Ten and Wilkinson after they aired an interview with Brittany Higgins on The Project in 2021 in which she alleged she was raped at Parliament House in March 2019.
The interview did not name Lehrmann, but he claimed their description still identified him, which sparked his defamation proceedings.
Judge finds Lehrmann a 'liar', Higgins 'unsatisfactory witness'
Justice Lee told the court he was satisfied Lehrmann had told "deliberate lies" on several accounts, including about having met Higgins before the "fateful night", his earlier admissions that he found her "alluring", and what subsequently occurred at The Dock bar in Canberra.
"To remark that Mr Lehrmann is a poor witness is an exercise in understatement," Justice Lee said.
Justice Lee also said Lehrmann made false representations about how the Seven Network obtained sensitive material from his criminal trial to use in his Spotlight interview in June 2023.
Lehrmann had previously testified that he only offered the programme "an interview".
Justice Lee also said "nuance" was required in assessing the evidence of Higgins, who he described as a "complex and unsatisfactory witness".
He said she made some accusations "cut out of a whole cloth" because they suited her argument to make them.
Other assertions made by Higgins, Justice Lee said, were inconsistent in a way that was synonymous with actions of a genuine victim of sexual assault.
- This story was first published by the ABC.
