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Although Lee has found Higgins did not consent, he is now turning to Lehrmann’s state of mind.
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Lehrmann was so indifferent to the rights of Higgins that he ignored the matter of consent.
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Mr Lehrmann was “hell bent” in pursuit of gratification of having sex with a woman he found sexually attractive.
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“He did not care one way or the other whether Ms Higgins understood or agreed to what was going on.”
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Lee has found that on the balance of probabilities Higgins was raped.
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“Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins.”
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Lee has rejected the notion that if the intercourse had been consensual they would have left together. He said it was explicable Lehrmann ran out alone because he was cheating on his girlfriend.
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On the matter of consent Lee said Lehrmann knew Higgins was drunk, saw her falling over and saw her drinking.
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He is not satisfied Higgins said no repeatedly, but he is considering if she consented at all.
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In the end it comes down to whether Higgins was telling the truth in the witness box. Her evidence that she was not fully aware of her surroundings until she realised Lehrmann was on top of her performing a sexual act.
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Lee said he is satisfied Higgins did not consent.
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Lee is now saying what he has found happened inside the suite. He believes sexual intercourse did take place and that Lehrmann was on top of Higgins.
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He is not satisfied that Higgins said “no” repeatedly but he believes she was passive “like a log”, and that afterwards she passed into a deep sleep.
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He is not satisfied that the bruise photograph was genuine.
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Lee is now going over Higgins’ evidence about the alleged rape.
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“The first thing to be said about Ms Higgins’ account is it involves a grave allegation,” he says.
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Lee finds Higgins’ account more believable than Lehrmann’s.
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There is a “subtle tension” between Higgins’ varying accounts of the alleged rape.
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Three days after the incident she said “I could not have consented. It would have been like fucking a log.”
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At another time she said: “From what I recall, I was barely lucid. I don’t feel it was consensual at all.”
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Lee says he considers Lehrmann’s account to be “an elaborate” fancy.
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He rejects Lehrmann’s account that while inside the office he made notes on a question time brief.
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Lehrmann came back to the office with “a woman he found attractive who had just been pashing in a nightclub”, Lee says.
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Lee says he would expect any man to check on a young woman before leaving the office so late at night.
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Lee says he was certain despite the evidence given by Lehrmann that “Brittany hooked up with Bruce” at the nightclub 88mph.
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Lee is now turning to the journey in an Uber to Parliament House. He rejects Lehrmann’s account about why he went back to the office.
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There was no reason for a junior staffer like Higgins to go back and he could have texted his girlfriend to get back in his house without keys, Lee says.
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Lee is now assessing Ten’s journalism in relation to its qualified privilege defence.
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Lee said Wilkinson and producer Angus Llewellyn did not properly investigate the timeline presented to the team by Higgins and her partner, David Sharaz.
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Ten’s attempts to contact Lehrmann were not adequate, he said.
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Llewellyn leaves the federal court in Sydney in December.","caption":"Angus Llewellyn leaves the federal court in Sydney in December.","credit":"Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP"}}],"attributes":{"pinned":false,"keyEvent":true,"summary":false},"blockCreatedOn":1713146139000,"blockCreatedOnDisplay":"21.55 EDT","blockLastUpdated":1713146755000,"blockLastUpdatedDisplay":"22.05 EDT","blockFirstPublished":1713146522000,"blockFirstPublishedDisplay":"22.02 EDT","blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone":"22.02","title":"Ten’s attempts to contact Lehrmann were inadequate, judge says","contributors":[],"primaryDateLine":"Sun 14 Apr 2024 23.26 EDT","secondaryDateLine":"First published on Sun 14 Apr 2024 19.15 EDT"},{"id":"661c86488f087ec9b8535b60","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"
Lee said Lisa Wilkinson was polished but not self-assured. He said she has spent decades in the media but did not adapt easily to what was expected of her in the witness box.
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“Regrettably, however, these not inconsiderable skills were often deployed by her in the witness box to advocate for her views,” Lee said.
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“Ms Wilkinson took comfort in the fact she did not say in express terms that Mr Lehrmann was a rapist.”
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Lee said she should have known better than to give a speech before a criminal trial but he accepted that she had legal advice that it was OK.
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Wilkinson had a “lack of candour in the witness box” about doing the wrong thing.
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Lee said she often refused to concede she was wrong, for example in her description of how the program portrayed Fiona Brown.
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Lee is not satisfied with the evidence Higgins gave about her Bumble date on the night of the alleged rape.
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He said she claimed the date was bullied but the CCTV footage shows nothing of the sort. Lee said she “made false representations”. Higgins is a “complex and in some respects an unsatisfactory witness”.
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He has found that she “selectively curated” the material on her phone and “sometimes told untruths when it suited her”.
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While in 2019 her behaviour was “not inconsistent with the conduct of a genuine victim of sexual assault”, he is not satisfied this is true of the accounts she gave in 2021.
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Lee has now turned to the photograph of the bruise on Higgins’ leg on the “fateful night”.
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She claims she sustained the bruise on the night of the rape when her leg was pressed against the couch by Lehrmann.
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Her evidence was “vexing” and “odd” in relation to the bruise on her leg, he said.
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It was odd that she did not show the photo to the AFP at the first meeting.
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There is no metadata to show when the photo was taken, and the photo showed something different to her evidence.
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Lee is also concerned about the deletion of photos and data on Higgins’ phone.
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Lee is now looking at the credibility of Brittany Higgins and whether trauma explainer her different accounts. However, not all of her memory can be explained in that way.
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“There is a significant difference between the distortions of Mr Lehrmann and Ms Higgins. In the case of Mr Lehrmann the untruths were all over the shop.”
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Higgins’ untruths were “quite organised” and differed between 2019 and 2021, Lee says.
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Lee said Lehrmann was identified by The Project, which is the first finding he had to make.
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He is now considering Ten’s defence of truth.
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Lee says the alleged rape will not be proven unless he feel “an actual persuasion of its occurrence”.
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“And having said this, the difference between the criminal and civil standard of proof is substantive and can be decisive in dealing with the same underlying allegation.
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“The facts established must be such as to exclude all reasonable hypotheses, consistent with innocence.”
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Justice Lee says that the case is a “Rorschach test” for people, with people clinging to their sense of what the truth is of what happened.
This case is not as straightfoward as some observers might at first think, he says.
“Only one man and one woman know the truth, with certitude, of what happened.”
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Lee said that while there are differing accounts of what happened, there can be different reasons for these differences and “distinguishing between false memory and deceit is difficult”.
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Bruce Lehrmann and Lisa Wilkinson have both arrived into courtroom one on the 21st level of the federal court building in central Sydney.
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Lehrmann is sitting at the bench, alongside his legal team, while Wilkinson is sitting on the other side of the courtroom in the front row of the gallery, in a row of red reserved seats.
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In the last two days of the hearing – during which time former Channel Seven producer Taylor Auerbach gave sensational evidence – the courtroom was packed, with every seat filled and people forced to stand outside the door.
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Today, the judgment is being heard in a much larger room, with about 150 seats for the gallery. It is currently about two-thirds full, with network executives, journalists and members of the public coming to watch the end of what has been a long and, at times, bombshell case.
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Lehrmann arrives at the federal court","caption":"Bruce Lehrmann arrives at the federal court.","credit":"Photograph: Don Arnold/Getty Images"}}],"attributes":{"pinned":false,"keyEvent":true,"summary":false},"blockCreatedOn":1713140053000,"blockCreatedOnDisplay":"20.14 EDT","blockLastUpdated":1713140808000,"blockLastUpdatedDisplay":"20.26 EDT","blockFirstPublished":1713140128000,"blockFirstPublishedDisplay":"20.15 EDT","blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone":"20.15","title":"Lehrmann and Wilkinson enter the courtroom","contributors":[{"name":"Kate Lyons","imageUrl":"https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2019/01/08/Kate-Lyons.jpg?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=91faee571d7c062e685a01daa980df99","largeImageUrl":"https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2019/01/08/Kate_Lyons,_L.png?width=300&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=246a4be751d4a0e69e5f7eb7fa3e4f78"}],"primaryDateLine":"Sun 14 Apr 2024 23.26 EDT","secondaryDateLine":"First published on Sun 14 Apr 2024 19.15 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What Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson argued
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Ten and Wilkinson relied on the defences of truth and qualified privilege. They argued the imputation that Lehrmann raped Higgins is substantially true and because defamation proceedings are civil matters, rather than criminal, the standard of proof is different.
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Under the qualified privilege defence, Ten and Wilkinson had to prove a number of elements including that the program was in the public interest and that they acted reasonably.
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In 2021, the Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins claimed on The Project she had been raped two years earlier on a minister’s couch in Parliament House.
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She made the claim in an interview with news.com.au and a television interview which was aired by Network Ten’s The Project on 15 February.
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The media outlets did not name the alleged rapist, but Higgins’ colleague Lehrmann later claimed he was identifiable and sued news.com.au, Network Ten and its presenter Wilkinson for defamation.
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Lehrmann maintains his innocence, and at his criminal trial in 2022 pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent, denying that any sexual activity had occurred.
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After his criminal trial was aborted in December 2022, prosecutors dropped charges against Lehrmann for the alleged rape of Higgins, saying a retrial would pose an “unacceptable risk” to her health.
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When Justice Michael Lee hands down his decision today, it will say whether the respondent has established, on the balance of probabilities, that Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins in then defence minister Linda Reynolds’ office in 2019.
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Being a civil proceeding, a defamation trial works on the balance of probabilities, rather than the higher standard of beyond reasonable doubt used in criminal prosecutions.
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Read the link below to see what Lee has had to consider before reaching that decision.
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In 2021, the Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins made an explosive allegation, claiming she had been raped two years earlier on a minister’s couch in Parliament House.
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She made the claim in an interview with news.com.au and a television interview which was aired by Channel Ten’s The Project on 15 February.
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The media outlets did not name the alleged rapist but Higgins’ colleague Bruce Lehrmann later claimed he was identifiable and sued news.com.au, Channel Ten and its presenter Lisa Wilkinson for defamation.
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Lehrmann maintains his innocence and at his criminal trial in 2022 pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent, denying that any sexual activity had occurred.
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After his criminal trial was aborted in December 2022, prosecutors dropped charges against Lehrmann for the alleged rape of Higgins, saying a retrial would pose an “unacceptable risk” to her health. Lehrmann settled with News.com then pursued Ten and Wilkinson in the courts, resulting in a five-week defamation trial which ran until just before Christmas.
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Click below to read more about how the story has played out so far.
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We are expecting a judgment this morning at 10.15am from Justice Michael Lee in the Bruce Lehrmann v Ten & Ors defamation case.
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Lehrmann sued Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson for the broadcast of an interview with Brittany Higgins on The Project in 2021 which he said defamed him by suggesting he raped Higgins in 2019.
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Lehrmann has always denied the rape allegation and, in a previous criminal trial, pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent. He denied that any sexual activity had occurred.
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The criminal trial was aborted after it was discovered a juror had conducted their own research in relation to the case.
","elementId":"7dc02e9f-cdb5-4791-8f01-06706821d647"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":"
In December 2022 prosecutors dropped charges against Lehrmann for the alleged rape of Higgins, saying a retrial would pose an “unacceptable risk” to her health.
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The oral summary by the federal court judge will be live streamed on YouTube and a written judgment with the reasons for his decision will be published afterwards.
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Justice Lee will rule whether the respondent has established, on the balance of probabilities, that Lehrmann raped Higgins in then defence minister Linda Reynolds’ office in 2019.
","elementId":"8db08990-0d6c-4087-ae1b-387b627ce6fe"}],"attributes":{"pinned":false,"keyEvent":true,"summary":false},"blockCreatedOn":1713136512000,"blockCreatedOnDisplay":"19.15 EDT","blockLastUpdated":1713137181000,"blockLastUpdatedDisplay":"19.26 EDT","blockFirstPublished":1713136512000,"blockFirstPublishedDisplay":"19.15 EDT","blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone":"19.15","title":"Good morning","contributors":[],"primaryDateLine":"Sun 14 Apr 2024 23.26 EDT","secondaryDateLine":"First published on Sun 14 Apr 2024 19.15 EDT"}],"filterKeyEvents":false,"id":"key-events-carousel-mobile"}” config=”{"renderingTarget":"Web","darkModeAvailable":false}”>
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Justice Lee: ‘Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins’ on balance of probabilities
Although Lee has found Higgins did not consent, he is now turning to Lehrmann’s state of mind.
Lehrmann was so indifferent to the rights of Higgins that he ignored the matter of consent.
Mr Lehrmann was “hell bent” in pursuit of gratification of having sex with a woman he found sexually attractive.
“He did not care one way or the other whether Ms Higgins understood or agreed to what was going on.”
Lee has found that on the balance of probabilities Higgins was raped.
“Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins.”
Lee satisfied Higgins did not consent to sex with Lehrmann
Lee has rejected the notion that if the intercourse had been consensual they would have left together. He said it was explicable Lehrmann ran out alone because he was cheating on his girlfriend.
On the matter of consent Lee said Lehrmann knew Higgins was drunk, saw her falling over and saw her drinking.
He is not satisfied Higgins said no repeatedly, but he is considering if she consented at all.
In the end it comes down to whether Higgins was telling the truth in the witness box. Her evidence that she was not fully aware of her surroundings until she realised Lehrmann was on top of her performing a sexual act.
Lee said he is satisfied Higgins did not consent.
Intercourse took place between Higgins and Lehrmann but Lee is not reasonably satisfied that Higgins repeatedly said “stop” while he was on top of her.
Lee is detailing the historical and legal definitions of rape.
Lee said his focus is on the ordinary meaning of rape in this case, which is a civil and not a criminal trial.
Sexual intercourse took place between Higgins and Lehrmann, Lee says
Lee is now saying what he has found happened inside the suite. He believes sexual intercourse did take place and that Lehrmann was on top of Higgins.
He is not satisfied that Higgins said “no” repeatedly but he believes she was passive “like a log”, and that afterwards she passed into a deep sleep.
He is not satisfied that the bruise photograph was genuine.
Lee said it was significant that she told her “loving father” that she was raped.
“One wonders why a daughter would say such a thing to a clearly loving father absent a genuine belief that should have taken place,” Lee said.
“For completeness it’s worth stressing these apparently candid communications with her father might be thought to have cogency because they occurred before” the interview with The Project.
Higgins was ‘seriously inebriated’ on night of alleged rape, judge finds
Lee is satisfied Higgins was drunk and, although we don’t have a blood alcohol reading, she was “seriously inebriated”.
Additional drinking of whisky in the office was not put to Lehrmann in the witness box, but he strongly suspects it did take place.
CCTV footage showed Higgins walking through security, trying to put her shoes on and later skipping to catch up.
It does show she was not “paralytically drunk” but she was heavily affected, and Lehrmann was aware of her condition, Lee says.
Judge outlines incontrovertible facts
Lee says Higgins was happy when she heard that Lehrmann denied that any sex took place at all. Higgins had told Samantha Maiden she thought there was going to be a debate about consent.
Lee said the incontrovertible facts are: Higgins and Lehrmann were alone at Parliament House; Lehrmann did not answer calls from his girlfriend, Lehrmann left the office alone, Higgins fell into a deep sleep; Higgins was checked on by a security guard and there was no answer.
The judge has been quite scathing of Bruce Lehrmann throughout the reading of the judgment extracts.
Lehrmann, who is in court, has barely looked up toward the judge throughout the course of the judgment, instead looking down at his bench table and very occasionally talking to the legal representative sitting next to him.
‘Subtle tension’ between Higgins’ varying account of alleged rape, judge says
Lee is now going over Higgins’ evidence about the alleged rape.
“The first thing to be said about Ms Higgins’ account is it involves a grave allegation,” he says.
Lee finds Higgins’ account more believable than Lehrmann’s.
There is a “subtle tension” between Higgins’ varying accounts of the alleged rape.
Three days after the incident she said “I could not have consented. It would have been like fucking a log.”
At another time she said: “From what I recall, I was barely lucid. I don’t feel it was consensual at all.”
Lehrmann’s account an ‘elaborate’ fancy, Lee says
Lee says he considers Lehrmann’s account to be “an elaborate” fancy.
He rejects Lehrmann’s account that while inside the office he made notes on a question time brief.
Lehrmann came back to the office with “a woman he found attractive who had just been pashing in a nightclub”, Lee says.
Lee says he would expect any man to check on a young woman before leaving the office so late at night.
Lee rejects submissions critical of Parliament House security guards who let Higgins and Lehrmann in
Lehrmann told security that “we” rather than “I” have to collect documents so the guards didn’t refuse them entry. Lehrmann thought collecting his keys was not a good enough excuse to get into the office and thought he might be turned away, Lee says.
Lee is assessing the evidence given by the security guards about the level of intoxication of Lehrmann and Higgins. One security guard said Higgins was drunk because she struggled to get her shoes on.
Lee rejects Ten’s assertion that the two of them should have been denied access to Parliament House, noting that drunk people can compose themselves and convince the guards they are OK.
He rejects the submissions critical of the security guards.
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