Lehrmann fires back after rape charge
Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has spoken for the first time since being named as the high profile man charged with two counts of rape in Toowoomba.
Mr Lehrmann was publicly named for the first time on October 26 as the man accused of raping a 28-year-woman after the pair met at a strip club in Toowoomba in October 2021.
He released his own statement, first reported by Sky News on Tuesday, following an intense legal battle to keep his name suppressed was lost in Queensland Supreme Court.
“The non-publication order we sought unsuccessfully last week would have ensured the subsequent prejudicial and often inaccurate reporting would not have occurred,” Mr Lehrmann said.
The statement was made just hours before his rape charge was due for mention in Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
Mr Lehrmann was previously charged with sexually assaulting Ms Higgins in Parliament House in March 2019 but the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions dropped the charge.
Mr Lehrmann denies he and Ms Higgins ever had sex.
The first trial was aborted after a juror brought outside material into the jury room.
On Wednesday, Mr Lehrmann rebuffed an earlier statement made by Ms Higgins about the Toowoomba rape case and the complainant involved.
“Her statement was public and widely reported,” he said.
“As such my team will be considering our position and the relief the justice system rightly has available to us now.
‘The recent ACT Criminal Justice Inquiry and its findings should not be forgotten.
‘The only verdict of any substance that’s been handed down this year was that of Mr Sofronoff’s condemnation of the behaviour of the DPP and Mr Shane Drumgold.”
Mr Lehrmann’s case will be back before Toowoomba Magistrates Court on Wednesday.
