Bruce Lehrmann: Australian Parliament rape retrial is over

• A former political adviser who was accused of raping a fellow employee within Australia’s Parliament House has had the case against him withdrawn.
• After a night out in 2019, Brittany Higgins was allegedly sexually assaulted on a minister’s sofa by Bruce Lehrmann, 27. He insists that no sex was had.
• In October, Mr. Lehrmann’s trial was abandoned due to improper behaviour by the jurors.

After a night out in 2019, Brittany Higgins was allegedly sexually assaulted on a minister’s sofa by Bruce Lehrmann, 27. He insists that no sex was had.

In October, Mr. Lehrmann’s trial was abandoned due to improper behaviour by the jurors.

An continued threat to Ms. Higgins’ mental health makes a retrial unnecessary, according to the prosecution.

According to fresh medical information, a scheduled retrial for February posed a “significant and unacceptable risk to the complainant’s life,” according to Shane Drumgold, director of public prosecutions for the Australian Capital Territory.

He told reporters on Friday, “The evidence makes it apparent that this is not confined to the harm of delivering evidence in the witness box.”

This, according to Mr. Drumgold, outweighs his opinion that there would be a good chance of getting a conviction.

According to her friend Emma Webster, Ms. Higgins is currently receiving treatment in a hospital to help her cope with the trauma of the alleged incident and its aftereffects.

In a statement, Ms. Webster claimed that “the past couple of years have been harsh and unyielding.”

“Although the trial’s outcome is disheartening, Brittany’s health and safety must always come first. Brittany is incredibly appreciative of all the help she has gotten, especially from our mental health care professionals.”

After 12 days of testimony and five days of deliberation in the trial in October, the jury was dismissed after it was discovered that one of the jurors had brought in academic research papers on false accusations in sexual assault cases.

Only the evidence that is admitted into evidence in court must be used by juries to render a decision.

Ms. Higgins waived her right to privacy before disclosing her account to police in early 2021 and went public with her allegations in prominent newspaper and television interviews.

Her accusations served as the impetus for Australia’s “Me Too moment,” which sparked massive demonstrations over the safety of women, particularly in politics.

Additionally, it sparked a damning investigation that revealed that a third of federal parliament employees had experienced sexual harassment.

Ms. Higgins and Mr. Lehrmann had shared an office with Linda Reynolds, who was the defence industry minister at the time. They shared beverages in Canberra on March 22, 2019, with coworkers and other people.

Police were informed by Ms. Higgins that she later dozed off on a sofa in Ms. Reynolds’ office and awoke to find Mr. Lehrmann having sex with her.

She reported the alleged rape in the days that followed, but at first she did not file a complaint because she was concerned for her career, the jury was told.

Although Mr. Lehrmann declined to testify at the trial, he claimed in a police interview that the alleged events “simply didn’t happen.”

Parts of Ms. Higgins’ testimony, according to his attorney Steven Whybrow, were “totally and utterly inconsistent.”

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