Brittany Higgins’ accused rapist Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyers want case halted, media blackout

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Lawyers for Brittany Higgins’ accused rapist, Bruce Lehrmann, are calling on the media to remove published stories about the former parliamentary staffer’s allegations in the lead-up to a bid to stop the trial going ahead.

Mr Lehrmann’s barrister, David Campbell, SC, told the ACT Supreme Court his client’s lawyers would be writing to various media outlets seeking their co-operation to take down various articles referring to the allegations and would be asking for court orders if they didn’t agrees.

Former parliamentary staffer Brittany Higgins went public with her allegation in February 2021.Credit:James Brickwood

“We propose to write to the media today, or at worst tomorrow and give them seven days,” Mr Campbell said. “It is likely we wouldn’t have universal assent from the media for a take-down.”

The proposed media blackout comes ahead of an application to indefinitely delay the trial. They are two of four applications Mr Lehrmann’s defense team is pushing to reduce the risk of prejudicing the case, in light of the publicity the allegations have received.

Crown prosecutor Shane Drumgold said the foreshadowing of the stay application itself would generate significant publicity, and in the interest of a fair trial applied for Ms Higgins’ name, “which seems to be the search word for most of these things”, to be suppressed .

“The pre-trial publicity will either negatively impact the credibility of the accused, or positively impact the credibility of the complainant in some prejudicial way,” Mr Drumgold said.

However, Mr Campbell disagreed, saying publicity of concerns about the fate of the trial “can only aid the manifestation of justice, not interfere with it”.

Ms Higgins publicly alleged in February 2021 that she was sexually assaulted by Mr Lehrmann on March 23, 2019, in the Parliament House office of minister Linda Reynolds, for whom they both worked at the time. Her allegation sparked a national conversation about the treatment of women and their involvement in politics.

Mr Lehrmann has denied the allegation and a six-week trial is set for June.

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