Lehrmann a 'fundamentally dishonest' man, Ten says

Bruce Lehrmann is a dishonest, evasive man whose frequent lies about his alleged rape of Brittany Higgins mean his entire account of what happened should be disbelieved, a court has heard.

Lawyers for Network Ten have rejected Lehrmann’s claims that nothing sexual happened between him and Ms Higgins in Senator Linda Reynolds’ office at Parliament House in March 2019.

Giving closing submissions in a defamation case brought by Lehrmann, Ten’s barrister Matthew Collins KC said the former Liberal staffer was evasive and defensive when giving evidence.

He made “bizarre” and “absurd” lies about what he claimed happened, the barrister told Justice Michael Lee.

“Mr Lehrmann was revealed to be a fundamentally dishonest man who was prepared to say or do anything he perceived to advance his interests,” Dr Collins said.

Lehrmann denies the rape and is suing Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for defamation over a February 2021 report on The Project featuring an interview with Ms Higgins.

Wilkinson’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC said Lehrmann had been “locked in” to his lie that nothing untoward happened when he first spoke to police in April 2021 and then a series of further lies flowed from that.

“One has to wonder if Mr Lehrmann is just a compulsive liar ... or whether the lies that have been told were directed to covering up the fact that he had sex with Ms Higgins,” she said.

Dr Collins argued Lehrmann was not identifiable due to The Project report except for among a small group of individuals who already knew of an alleged incident in Parliament House almost two years earlier.

Even if Lehrmann succeeded in his defamation case, any damages he received would be limited as a result, he said.

Ms Chrysanthou went further saying that if there was a small group of people who could be the accused individual mention in the report, then that story was incapable of carrying an imputation of guilt.

Dr Collins urged Justice Lee to find sexual intercourse, whether consensual or non-consensual, occurred that night given Ms Higgins was later seen by a security guard naked and passed out on the minister’s couch.

“They weren’t there to play Scrabble,” Dr Collins said.

“There’s a limited universe of things that plausibly happened.”

If the judge found consensual sex had occurred, it was “game over” for Lehrmann because of his continual denials that anything happened, he submitted.

Dr Collins said Ms Higgins, on the other hand, had given compelling, distressing and believable evidence about the rape allegation.

She also made appropriate admissions about mistakes in her prior versions of events, he said.

The judge was simply required to decide whether the core allegation of rape occurred, Dr Collins said.

Ten did not need to prove claims Ms Higgins felt forced to remain silent as none of her former superiors - Senator Reynolds, chief of staff Fiona Brown or Senator Michaelia Cash - were suing for defamation in this case, Dr Collins said.

Ten is also running a justification defence in which it has to prove it was reasonable in publishing an article of public interest.

Justice Lee might have to grapple with what, if any, damages Lehrmann receives if the rape claim is shown to be true but Ms Higgins’ claims about the actions of others in Parliament House are found to be false.

Ms Chrysanthou said her client played a “very limited role” and had no decision-making power in actually creating the published material finally aired in The Project report.

Counsel representing Lehrmann will give closing submissions Friday.

Lehrmann’s trial in the ACT Supreme Court on a charge of raping Ms Higgins was derailed by juror misconduct.

Prosecutors did not seek a second trial, citing concerns for Ms Higgins’ mental health.

He has been charged with allegedly raping another woman twice in Toowoomba in October 2021 and remains before Queensland courts.

He has not entered a plea but lawyers have indicated he denies that allegation.

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