Rape charges against former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann unlikely to go to trial until next year

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5 days ago

Former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann is unlikely to face trial on rape charges until next year.
The Toowoomba District Court was told today that Mr Lehrmann's defence was still uncovering material that revealed the complainant in the case had only been shown CCTV footage of the night in question more than three years after the alleged incident.
Mr Lehrmann's defence lawyer, Zali Burrows, said the complainant had since come up with "a new invention that was not on her original statement".
And material stored on the computer hard drive of the police officer in charge of the case had since been lost, with the hard drive since destroyed.
Ms Burrows also told the court a new witness had only been contacted by police four years later.
The 30-year-old faces two charges of rape, alleged to have occurred in Toowoomba in October 2021.
At today's callover in the District Court, a trial date was expected to be set. However, a series of pre-trial hearings has yet to be completed.
Ms Burrows said her client had only been indicted on the matter in December last year and had changed lawyers in March this year.
The defence, she said, was still actively seeking disclosure of police material.
"The investigation is still presently active, we are informed. A witness was contacted by Queensland police for the first time nearly four years after the event," Ms Burrows told the court.
"And it was only in April this year that the complainant was shown CCTV footage for the first time from October 9–10, 2021, in order for her to remember things, and accordingly she has come up with a new invention that was not on her original statement," she said.
The defence was receiving material in a "piecemeal fashion", Ms Burrows said.
"The officer in charge of this investigation has lost material that was stored on her personal hard drive that contained material … including recordings of witnesses, Mr Lehrmann, full briefs of evidence, copies of witness statements … the full download of the complainant's phone.
"She has claimed the hard drive malfunctioned for unknown reasons. The defence has sought access to the hard drive for an independent verification by our own expert. We are told the hard drive has now been destroyed," Ms Burrows said.
Judge Deborah Richards told Ms Burrows she was "off the hook" for a trial date this year because there was none available. It would now be 2026 before the trial could be set.
Mr Lehrmann has not yet been required to formally enter a plea, but it is understood he will defend the charges.
He was not required to be in court for today's mention, but did dial in via telephone to hear the proceedings. Ms Burrows also appeared via phone.
Today's mention comes a week after Mr Lehrmann's lawyer withdrew claims that phone calls between his former lawyers and Queensland police were "illegally obtained".
Ms Burrows withdrew the claim, which was then formally dismissed by the Judge's order on July 25.
Mr Lehrmann had been seeking a "declaration" that the phone calls were illegally obtained.
Ms Burrows told the court that in future she would refuse to speak with any Queensland police officer on the telephone and would confine all communication to writing.
Outside court that day, Ms Burrows told reporters: "It's another world in the state of Queensland."
Mr Lehrmann also has another pre-trial hearing set down for August 28 in regard to a defence subpoena for a raft of police documents in relation to the Toowoomba rape investigation.
Mr Lehrmann also has an application for a permanent stay of the proceedings against him to be heard on September 26.
The matter will be mentioned at the next callover on October 29 to set a trial date unless Mr Lehrmann's stay application is successful.