Brittany Higgins: Judge gives stern warning ahead of Bruce Lehrmann’s rape trial

A judge has aired serious concerns in court about the Brittany Higgins rape trial – giving a very “blunt” warning.

The ACT’s highest Supreme Court judge has given a warning ahead of the Brittany Higgins rape trial.

The ACT’s top judge has given a “blunt” warning that the more people talk about the Brittany Higgins case the greater the danger her alleged rapist’s trial will be postponed or not proceed at all.

Former staffer Bruce Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty to raping Ms Higgins in Parliament House in March 2019 with a six-week trial set down for June.

At a mention on Thursday, Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said she wanted to send a strong message to “any person who has any interest” in the case, after questioning Mr Lehrmann’s lawyer about whether there would be an application to temporarily or permanently stay the proceedings.

“A man has been accused of a very serious offence, it is an offence that can only be tried with a jury,” she said in the ACT Supreme Court.

“The laws about contempt are well known in this country.

“Statements made before a criminal trial that might interfere with the administration of justice and, in particular, the ability of an accused man to have a fair trial risk falling in the classification of contempt.”

The ACT’s top judge has told people to be careful about what is said regarding the Brittany Higgins allegations.

She said she “strongly” urged people to be careful.

“If I could put it in blunter terms, the more people keep talking about this case the greater the risk the prosecution will be stayed,” she said.

“I think I’ve made the position of the court clear.”

Her warning comes after Prime Minister Scott Morrison last month gave a historic apology in parliament to victims of sexual harrassment and assault in the building, naming Ms Higgins.

Afterwards, Mr Lehrmann’s high-profile barrister John Korn labelled Mr Morrison’s actions a “disgrace” which “completely and utterly disgregarded the presumption of innocence”.

He spoke about his concerns in court on Thursday.

“For my part I was hoping what happened a few weeks ago would die down,” he said.

He said he had read on Monday there was going to be another campaign involving Ms Higgins going public and “speaking about the topic”.

“I would very much hope that could be prevented,” he said.

Chief Justice McCallum noted that the Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC, who was present in court, was a “very experienced advocate” and would “convey the remarks that have been made”.

Earlier, she had asked Mr Korn whether the defence would be proceeding with a stay application with regards to the trial.

Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty to raping Brittany Higgins.

He said that since the “issue” had arisen he had not been involved in any stay application decisions because a different counsel would conduct it, while he would focus on the trial.

“Obviously I’m trying to keep abreast of it but the chances of it getting off the ground are slim to nil,” he told the court.

He later added: “I’ve answered it as precisely as I can. I believe the chances of there being a stay application are slim to none.”

But Chief Justice McCallum pressed if Mr Korn’s instructing solicitor had sought advice from Mr Lehrmann on what path he wished to take with a stay application.

“I think the precise answer to that Your Honour is that the client Mr Lehrmann would like an application, not a permanent stay, he would like a stay for a period of time,” he said.

Mr Korn said there had been challenges securing counsel to carry out a stay application in such a short space of time.

“Well that’s, I have to say, not a very satisfactory state of affairs to be left without a definitive answer less than three months before the court has allocated six weeks of precious trial listing time to this trial.” Chief Justice McCallum said.

Mr Korn pointed to the fact the issue arose “three weeks ago”.

Chief Justice McCallum said that was why the question was being asked a second time “in response to a concern of mine”.

The first time the question was asked was in a pre-trial questionaire in November.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt in anyone’s mind as to what would be the basis for the application. That material exists and can be garnered quickly,” Chief Justice McCallum said.

She stood the matter over to Wednesday next week to give Mr Korn time to obtain clear instructions from Mr Lehrmann.