Bruce Lehrmann accuses ACT prosecutor of professional misconduct

Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has accused the prosecutor who led the rape trial against him of professional misconduct and being driven by politics and personal malice.

Lehrmann was charged with sexually assaulting his former colleague Brittany Higgins in the office of their then-boss, former Coalition minister Linda Reynolds, after a night drinking with friends in March 2019.

DPP’s Shane Drumgold (left) and Bruce Lehrmann, who has filed a complaint against him.Credit: Rhett Wyman, Alex Ellinghausen

Lehrmann, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, has always maintained his innocence and there have been no findings against him.

The ACT Supreme Court trial was aborted late last year due to juror misconduct, and a retrial was abandoned due to concerns over Higgins’ fragile mental health.

In a complaint to the ACT Bar Association, seen by this masthead, and dated December 9, Lehrmann accused the ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC of “pursuing the matter through the media, despite him discontinuing the prosecution”.

“By doing so, he is bringing into disrepute his own office, the fine work and reputation of the Australian Federal Police and your members,” Lehrmann wrote.

The complaint was sent on the day The Guardian reported Drumgold had written to the ACT’s chief police officer, Neil Gaughan, complaining of a campaign to pressure him against prosecuting Lehrmann.

Lehrmann wrote, “[Drumgold’s] public behaviour continues to smear my name and the presumption of innocence that is a cornerstone of our justice system ... more importantly to me, he impugns the conduct of my legal team, who have been family to me”.

Lehrmann alleged Drumgold failed to ensure a fair trial against him.

“I contend that his conduct was driven by malice towards me personally. I also consider that his conduct was political,” Lehrmann wrote.

“I take the view that the director’s behaviour was consistent with a legal practitioner who was acting in the interests of a particular person, bolstered by political interests on the part of the director, and possible third-party political interference, rather than the overall interests of justice.”

Lehrmann said while he was living in Tasmania at the time to be out of the media spotlight, he would readily travel to Canberra to discuss the allegations with the ACT bar president in more detail.

Comment has been sought from Drumgold’s office and the bar association.

The ACT government announced on December 21 it would conduct an inquiry into the abandoned rape trial “following a number of complaints and allegations related to the trial”.

Former Queensland solicitor-general and Court of Appeal president Walter Sofronoff KC has been appointed to head the inquiry.

ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury said on Wednesday the inquiry would have the scope to investigate allegations of political influence in the case against Lehrmann.

Rattenbury previously described Drumgold’s complaint as a “very serious allegation” and said the terms of reference for the inquiry would encompass that issue.

“I hope that this matter does not affect that broader relationship, but that is part of the reason we are establishing this inquiry, to ensure that where those allegations and these fracture points have been aired, there is an independent forum to investigate them and then draw conclusions,” he said.

After the sudden halt of the first trial, Higgins spoke to media outside the ACT Supreme Court, describing the justice system as “asymmetrical” and stating that she felt as though she, not Lehrmann, had been the one on trial.

In announcing the abandonment of the retrial in December, Drumgold said, “during the investigation and trial as a sexual assault complainant, [Brittany] Higgins has faced a level of personal attack that I have not seen in over 20 years of doing this work”.

“She has done so with bravery, grace and dignity and it is my hope that this will now stop and Ms Higgins will be allowed to heal,” he said.

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