Mike O’Connor: While Brittany Higgins had a high media profile, Bruce Lehrmann maintained a dignified silence

OPINION: What of Bruce Lehrmann’s mental health and the stress to which he has been subjected during the court case involving Brittany Higgins, asks Mike O’Connor.

There are no winners in the Bruce Lehrmann-Brittany Higgins case unless you count the lawyers, the lives of two young people fractured by what began as a court case but quickly became tainted by politics.

Then Prime Minister Scott Morrison guaranteed the case would become bitterly divisive back in February when he rose to his feet in the House of Representatives and said: “I’m sorry to Ms Higgins for the terrible things that took place here.”

His words were at the very least ill-considered and were seen by many as a tawdry exercise in cheap politics, an attempt to gain the high moral ground in the interests of pre-election political expediency with scant regard for the fallout they created.

At the time, I wrote that “it would be reassuring to think that if the prime minister stood for anything, then it would be the right to a fair trial and a presumption of innocence but standing for anything is this blighted nation of ours in no longer fashionable”.

It remains my viewpoint.

Brittany Higgins. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Morrison is gone now and you might wonder if his unseemly opportunism played a part in the demise of his government.

Morrison later said his words were “by no means a reflection on the matters before a court”, begging the question as to their timing and upon what it was that they did reflect.

When politicians start wading into the judicial process, we should all be concerned.

In announcing his decision to abandon further legal action, Australian Capital Territory Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC said that “the ongoing trauma associated with this prosecution represents a significant and unacceptable risk to the life of the complainant.”

Ms Higgins, he said, had behaved “with bravery, grace and dignity”.

It is a tragedy that Ms Higgins has suffered in the way that she has, but in the interests of fairness, Mr Drumgold might have added that Mr Lehrmann had acted in a similar fashion and while Ms Higgins adopted a high media profile, Mr Lehrmann maintained a dignified silence.

Bruce Lehrmann. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

He once earned $200,000 as a policy adviser and is now broke.

He’s lost his job and in spite of pro bono services of his lawyers, still faces significant legal bills.

His life has, at this point, been effectively destroyed and his future is at the very least uncertain.

What of his mental health and the incredible stress to which he has been subjected?

What of his bravery, grace and dignity?

He maintained his innocence from the very beginning and his legal team played by the rules, refraining from public comment.

Everyone has an opinion on the Lehrmann-Higgins case but regardless of your viewpoint, it is important to recognise that while the proceedings have impacted adversely on Ms Higgins’s health and well being, Mr Lehrmann has also suffered.

There have been no book deals for him, no sympathetic TV appearances and no social media adulation.

Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

How will he now clear his name, for in abandoning the trial Mr Drumgold has denied him the opportunity to do so.

The allegations, forever unproven, will follow him wherever he goes so if there is to be sympathy felt, then it should be extended to both parties.

In the end the justice system took its course.

Both parties have reason to be unhappy with the outcome but if there is to be any guilt attached to these proceedings, then it lies at the feet of those in the media and in the political arena who saw an opportunity to profit from this case with little thought given to the damage the actions might inflict on Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

It has been reported elsewhere that the ACT Police manager of criminal investigations, Detective Superintendent Scott Moller, felt that there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Mr Lehrmann but believed the trial would go ahead because “there is too much political interference.”

It is an allegation that cuts to the very heart of our justice system.

If true, then from where did it come and to whom was it directed?

The Lehrmann-Higgins trial has been a cautionary tale for if we are to allow the presumption of innocence to be abandoned, a presumption that lies within the very heart of our democratic legal system, then we embark upon a journey to a very dark place.