Bruce Lehrmann returns to court to appeal defamation ruling
In April 2024, Justice Michael Lee found Brittany Higgins' claim that she had been raped in Parliament House in 2019 was substantially true on the balance of probabilities, striking the defamation case down on the truth defence.
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Bruce Lehrmann's appeal against last year's defamation ruling continues in the Federal Court today before three presiding judges. Mr Lehrmann sued Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over an interview on The Project in which Brittany Higgins detailed her rape allegation. But last year, Justice Michael Lee found, on the balance of probabilities, the former Liberal Party staffer did rape his then-colleague in the Parliament House office of Senator Linda Reynolds, though he has consistently denied the allegation. Follow live.
Sydney Morning Herald
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Watch live: Appeal continues after Lehrmann dubbed ‘Australia's most hated man'
Watch the hearing live here from 10.15am (AEST) Bruce Lehrmann's lawyer returns to court on Thursday in a bid to overturn a damning finding that the former federal Liberal staffer is a rapist. Zali Burrows told the Full Court of the Federal Court in Sydney on Wednesday that her client had been harassed on social media and had 'pretty much become the national joke'. 'He's probably Australia's most hated man,' Burrows said. Lehrmann is appealing against Federal Court Justice Michael Lee's landmark decision last year dismissing his defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson. Lee was satisfied Ten and Wilkinson had proven to the civil standard – on the balance of probabilities – that Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins in the office of their then-boss, Liberal senator Linda Reynolds, in the early hours of March 23, 2019. Lehrmann has always maintained his innocence. The Full Court of the Federal Court – Justices Michael Wigney, Craig Colvin and Wendy Abraham – started hearing the appeal on Wednesday. Burrows has urged the court to overturn the rape finding and argued that her client was denied procedural fairness. She submitted on Wednesday there was a difference between what she described as the 'violent rape' alleged by Ten and Wilkinson, in which Higgins said no repeatedly, and the 'non-violent rape' Lee ultimately found had occurred.
