The ACT government has launched an independent inquiry into the handling of the Bruce Lerhmnn rape case after Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC alleged police officers “clearly aligned with the successful defence” during the trial.
ACT chief minister Andrew Barr and attorney general Shane Rattenbury announced on Friday that the inquiry was necessary after a “number of complaints and allegations” about the trial, including the treatment of Brittany Higgins, who accused Lehrmann of raping her in 2019.
The inquiry will assess the jurisdiction’s handling of criminal investigations to assess whether the prosecutions were “robust, fair” and respectful of all parties involved. It will examine the ACT policing, police conduct, the role of the Victims of Crime Commissioner and the rules around juror misconduct.
“This was a high-profile trial. The allegations made in recent weeks are serious,” Barr said.
“An independent review of the roles played by the criminal justice agencies involved is the most appropriate response.”
The inquiry will take place in the first half of 2023.
Drumgold originally called for the inquiry last month. He sent a letter to the Australian Capital Territory’s police chief Neil Gaughan on November 1 — days after the trial was aborted following jury misconduct — outlining his “serious concerns” over what he perceived as “some quite clear investigator interference in the criminal justice process”.
The document was obtained by Guardian Australia via freedom of information laws.
Drumgold claimed “key AFP members have had a strong desire for this matter not to proceed to charge”.
“Then when charges resulted, the [investigators’] interests have clearly aligned with the successful defence of this matter rather than its prosecution,” he alleged.
“As a corollary however, there has now been over one-and-a-half years of consistent and inappropriate interference by investigators, firstly directed towards my independence with a very clear campaign to pressure me to agree with the investigators’ desire not to charge, then during the conduct of this trial itself, and finally attempting to influence any decision on a retrial.”
Drumgold claimed that, during meetings in March, April and June last year, police tried convincing him not to proceed with the case as they believed charges shouldn’t be laid against Lehrmann. He alleged investigators did this by using particular pieces of evidence and “loaded characterisations”.
Drumgold also told Gaughan that police handed him a letter which contained “further mischaracterisations and other inaccurate select summaries of evidence” during their last meeting in June, as a final attempt to persuade him to side with their view that the charges should be dropped.
“This document contained blatant misrepresentations of evidence such as suggestions that key evidence was deliberately deleted by the complainant, a proposition not supported by the tested evidence at trial, as well as a list of evidence that is clearly inadmissible in trial,” he alleged.
“The letter concludes with a further overt attempt to apply pressure to the conclusion of my resulting advice.”
In light of the trial being aborted, Drumgold requested a public enquiry into the matter which should investigate “both political and police conduct”.
He also asked that investigators have “no further contact with defence or other prosecution witnesses” and “no contact with the complainant” in the lead-up to the second trial, which has since been dropped because of concerns for the impact on Higgins’ mental health.
Drumgold claimed the police’s treatment of Higgins influenced the conduct of the trial, as she “felt bullied by police”.
“The complainant has long expressed concerns that during the investigation stage, she also felt bullied by police, who she felt were pressuring her into discontinuing the complaint,” he alleged.
“This is an observation corroborated by at least two of her support people. Although this is a matter for her to raise directly with the AFP, it is relevant for our purposes as it impacted the trial process, as she presented as highly anxious in dealing with either the police or by extension, the DPP.”
Drumgold alleged Bruce Lehrmann’s defence team regularly met with police during trial breaks, and also directly asked investigators to further examine select matters.
The letter did not say that the defence team behaved in an improper way.
A spokesperson for ACT Policing confirmed to The Guardian that “an inquiry was underway in relation to” Drumgold’s letter.
“As such it would be inappropriate to provide any further comment in relation to any aspects surrounding this matter including commentary about the letter from the ACT DPP.”
Bruce Lehrmann was accused of raping his former junior colleague Brittany Higgins in the office of their then boss, Senator Linda Reynolds, in the early hours of Saturday, March 23, 2019. Lehrmann pleaded not guilty and has always maintained his innocence.
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