Walter Sofronoff KC’s report will remain under wraps for months, but details are becoming clear | Samantha Maiden
Reports are starting to filter out over the findings on the inquiry into Australia’s most high-profile rape trial, writes Samantha Maiden.
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It’s an investigation that goes to the core of our justice system and the findings from the inquiry into the trial of Bruce Lehrmann are expected to rock the legal fraternity.
The report, prepared by former judge Walter Sofronoff KC, will examine what really went on behind the scenes of the most high-profile rape trial in Australian history.
It will remain under wraps for another month, but reports are starting to filter out over the findings.
Two things are clear.
Firstly, Walter Sofronoff KC will consider and make findings on grave allegations regarding the conduct of the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold during the trial, including claims he tried to withhold material from the defence.
He remains on leave and is not expected to return to the job.
That story still has a long way to go and the report into his conduct is expected to be detailed and disturbing.
Secondly, Walter Sofronoff KC will expressly find that police were correct to charge Mr Lehrmann and the decision by the DPP to prosecute him is not disputed.
That finding is not a reflection on the guilt or innocence of the former Liberal staffer.
It remains the case that he is an innocent man under the law as he was never convicted before the trial collapsed following an allegation of juror misconduct.
He always maintained his innocence and told police nothing sexual occurred.
Sources who have been briefed on the contents of the report have confirmed that Walter Sofronoff KC finds that police acted lawfully when they charged Mr Lehrmann.
It also finds that the decision of the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions to prosecute based on the evidence available was correct.
That finding is not a reflection on the guilt or innocence of the former Liberal staffer.
Or a finding on the conduct during the trial – there will be much more to say about that.
It is a finding on the conduct of the police and the Office of Director of Public Prosecutions in the lead-up to the trial.
Sofronoff findings on police decision to charge
In his final report, Mr Sofronoff notes that no person before him said the prosecution should not properly have been brought.
The former judge states that he had reviewed the brief in its entirety and has found that the prosecution should have been brought.
During the ACT board of inquiry, chairman Walter Sofronoff reminded lawyers present he was not holding an inquiry into Bruce Lehrmann’s guilt or innocence.
“I’m not interested in how the trial should have concluded. I am not interested in whether Mr Lehrmann is guilty or not guilty. I’m not interested in Miss Higgins.
“However, I have to deal with the question of whether the charge should have been brought.
“Can I ask if anybody is going to be submitting at the end that I should conclude that Mr Drumgold ought not to have submitted an indictment?’’ Mr Sofronoff asked during a hearing in May.
No barristers present said they did plan to suggest that Mr Drumgold should not have presented an indictment.
“Nobody has suggested the contrary. And I don’t read in the police evidence that any witness asserts to the contrary.”
The Director of Public Prosecutions’ barrister Mark Tedeschi SC also told the inquiry it was reasonable for the police to charge and the DPP to prosecute.
“It was a case that was overwhelmingly in need of charging,’’ Mr Tedeschi told the inquiry.
Mr Tedeschi argued the ACT police were undercharging rape complaints and if it wasn’t for the publicity Ms Higgins may have faced a similar fate.
“Had it not been for all the publicity, had it not been that the alleged offence occurred in Parliament House, this matter would have been dealt with like the other – I think it’s 250-something matters that had been, in effect, just ignored by the police.
The Board of Inquiry report that examined what really went on behind the scenes of the nation’s most high-profile rape trial in Australian history featured weeks of bombshell evidence from the DPP, police and the Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates.
Lehrmann plots multimillion-dollar compo case
The expected finding that the charge and the prosecution was properly brought follows Mr Lehrmann’s public comments that he plans to lodge a multimillion-dollar claim for compensation against the ACT Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP).
“I will be guided by the report and call for its release as a matter of urgency,’’ Mr Lehrmann said.
“If it finds the director acted with malice or against his duties as DPP and as an officer of the court, I will be considering a multimillion claim for damages and compensation from the ODPP and the ACT government.”
Police made mistakes but not malicious
It will also find that the Australian Federal Police made errors and mistakes but this conduct was not malicious. This includes the decision to hand Ms Higgins’ private counselling notes to his original defence team and the improper disclosure of a video of an interview with police.
“Look, we shouldn’t have given them and that’s that, that’s the bottom line we shouldn’t have handed them over,’’ Det Supt Moller told the inquiry.
“And it’s a mistake that we made.”
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