Latest news with #rape case
News.com.au
20 hours ago
- News.com.au
New delay rocks Bruce Lehrmann's Qld rape case after court told hard drive of critical evidence ‘malfunctioned', ‘destroyed' by police
A new bombshell delay has rocked Bruce Lehrmann's rape case after a court was told a hard drive containing material critical to the case had 'malfunctioned' and been 'destroyed' by police. The former political staffer is facing two counts of rape, which police allege stem from an incident in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane, in 2021. Mr Lehrmann, 30, was committed to stand trial in July 2024 but the case has stalled amid applications from his legal team to have the proceedings halted in their entirety. He has not entered a plea but has previously indicated he will fight the charges. Mr Lehrmann was not present in Brisbane District Court on Thursday during a brief callover mention of the Toowoomba matter. His lawyer Zali Burrows told the court it was premature to set a trial date due to Mr Lehrmann changing lawyers this year, in addition to her still 'actively seeking' the disclosure of all relevant material from the police. Ms Burrows said the investigation was still active as the complainant had only been shown CCTV footage relevant to the case in April this year, in order to 'remember things'.'She's come up with a new invention that's not in her original statement,' Ms Burrows told the court. An application for a permanent stay of proceedings is still in place. Ms Burrows said the officer-in-charge of the investigation had lost material stored on a personal hard drive, which contained recordings of witnesses and Mr Lehrmann, the full brief of evidence, copies of witness statements, video and digital recordings and a full download of the complainant's phone. The court was told the officer claimed the hard drive had 'malfunctioned for unknown reasons'. Ms Burrows said she had been told the hard drive had been destroyed before her own 'independent experts could access the drive'. 'In respect of all these issues, we respectfully submit it's premature to set down a trial date, we don't know the full scope of the material at hand,' she said. District Court Judge Deborah Richards said there were no available dates for this year to run a criminal trial. A separate application in the proceedings, set to go ahead in August, concerns claims of privilege from the Commissioner of Queensland Police for documents sought under subpoena. Michael Bonasia, representing the Commissioner, said most of the subpoena will be answered. The application for a permanent stay of Mr Lehrmann's proceedings will be held on September 26. An outline of submissions for the stay application had not been filed, the court was told. Judge Richards ordered Ms Burrows to file her submissions by September 19, with the Crown response due five days later. A further callover hearing will take place on October 29. Mr Lehrmann remains on bail. Police allege Mr Lehrmann raped a woman twice following a night out in the Garden City where the pair allegedly consumed cocaine. It is alleged the woman lost consciousness and woke up to Mr Lehrmann having sex without her consent, before she urged him to stop. Police further allege, moments later, he again had sexual intercourse with the woman without her consent. Last week, Ms Burrows attempted to argue recorded phone calls between Mr Lehrmann's former legal team and Queensland Police were 'unlawful' and amounted to an 'unfair' tactical advantage during a hearing at Toowoomba District Court. But District Court Judge Benedict Power KC dismissed the application within hours of the court sitting. The court was told Mr Lehrmann's prior lawyers had not disclosed anything subject to legal professional privilege. Ms Burrows' case ultimately hinged on establishing whether a police officer recording conversations with legal representatives was unlawful.
ABC News
21-07-2025
- ABC News
Bruce Lehrmann's lawyer queries 'possible destruction' of evidence in Toowoomba rape case
A rape case involving former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann has heard claims about "the possible destruction" of a police hard drive containing evidence relating to the case. The claim by Mr Lehrmann's defence counsel, Zali Burrows, was made during a mention of the matter in the Toowoomba District Court today. "We have received information, which was contained in one of the redacted police notebooks, which raises the possible destruction of exculpatory material, which is basically a hard drive that the police officer in charge placed all the material and evidence on and that subsequently has been damaged and we have made a request for that to be made available for an independent IT interrogation," Ms Burrows told the court. She said the defence wanted the police officer to appear at court later this week for cross-examination. Mr Lehrmann faces two counts of rape, alleged to have occurred in Toowoomba in October 2021. The 30-year-old has been committed for trial on the matter but has not yet been required to enter a formal plea. A pre-trial hearing of the case is due to be held on Friday. Today's hearing came after Mr Lehrmann's lawyer recently lodged an application for a permanent stay of the case against her client. The court today heard that Mr Lehrmann's defence is seeking full disclosure of the cellebrite forensic download report of the complainant's mobile telephone, in an unredacted form. The defence is also seeking unredacted versions of three police notebooks in relation to the case — two notebooks of the investigating officer, Detective Senior Constable Ashlee Ryder, and one notebook of an unknown police officer. The two issues — of the mobile phone report and the police notebooks — will be heard at Friday's hearing. Judge Benedict Power also questioned Ms Burrows about an application she had made last week for the complainant in the matter to be subpoenaed to testify later this week. Ms Burrows said it related only to the complainant's communication with investigating police. But Judge Power pointed out there were restrictions in relation to cross-examination of complainants in sexual assault cases. "On what basis did you think you could simply, without reference to the court, require the complainant to come and give evidence?" Judge Power asked. Ms Burrows then asked to have the request set aside. Judge Power also noted that the defence had sought for the investigating police officer to provide a wide-ranging list of documents including all police notebooks, all police diaries and police reports of the Bruce Lehrmann investigation. Judge Power said the subpoena should be directed, not to the individual officer as it was, but to the commissioner of police. Ms Burrows told the court that the investigation hard drive was in the possession of the police officer. After legal argument Ms Burrows agreed to set aside two points of her application: seeking a declaration that Queensland Police do not have the power to determine what is relevant to a defence case and must disclose all materials; and that the prosecution must ensure the defence has a list of all materials regardless of police or prosecution view of relevance. Judge Power had noted these declarations would be academic if the defence obtained the material it was seeking on subpoena. Ms Burrows said that when the matter comes back before the court the defence would seek a ruling that the redactions to police notebooks be lifted and the defence receive unredacted versions. Mr Lehrmann's defence has, in addition to filing an application for a permanent stay of the case, sought a declaration that intercepted phone calls between Mr Lehrmann's lawyers and Queensland police were "illegally obtained". The prosecution and defence did not appear personally in court today and were heard via telephone link. Mr Lehrmann was also on the call but did not make any comment. The matter will be back in court on Friday for a hearing.
