Bruce Lehrmann told friend: ‘I won’t be going to prison’

Lisa Wilkinson’s request to force Bruce Lehrmann to hand over phone data has been denied by a judge in the defamation case for being ‘oppressive’.

Lisa Wilkinson has been criticised in the Federal Court for her “oppressive” demand in the defamation case launched by former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann.

Earlier this year, Mr Lehrmann launched a lawsuit against Network Ten and its journalist Lisa Wilkinson as well as News Corp’s News Life Media and its journalist Samantha Maiden.

He is suing the media companies over their coverage of the allegations by Brittany Higgins that he raped her at Parliament House in March 2019.

Mr Lehrmann was not named in the reports at the time but says he was nevertheless identified by the media companies.

Bruce Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and news.com.au over their coverage of Brittany Higgins‘ allegations. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Flavio Brancaleone

Both media companies are currently fighting to have the proceedings dismissed on the grounds that Mr Lehrmann did not file the legal action within the required one-year limitation period.

The former political staffer is arguing that he delayed the proceedings due to the criminal proceedings related to the allegations, legal advice, and health issues.

On Thursday, the Federal Court heard Ms Wilkinson had lodged a request for a data analysis of Mr Lehrmann’s phone which had been obtained by police in 2021.

The analysis report totals an eye-watering 39,823 pages and includes the entire history of the contents and data contained on the former political staffer’s phone.

Justice Michael Lee noted the “clearly oppressive” demand would force Mr Lehrmann to hand over call logs, emails, texts, GPS tracking and other data dating back to 2017.

Ms Wilkinson argued she required the data to prove Mr Lehrmann’s state of mind from the time the allegations were publicly aired on February 15, 2021 to the date he lodged the defamation claim.

His communications were argued to be crucial to the argument about friends allegedly identifying him in the publications, in which he was not named.

Lisa Wilkinson is defending her coverage of the allegations on The Project.

Justice Lee slammed the request as a “classic fishing expedition” for material with “no apparent relevance”.

“These submissions are devoid of merit,” Justice Lee bluntly told the court.

“This is not some sort of roving inquiry into everything Mr Lehrmann thought, did, watched, said or where he went during the limitation period.”

The refusal came as the parties argued their closing statements as to whether the defamation proceedings will be allowed to proceed.

Ms Wilkinson’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC told the court her client had the “legal right” to “proceed on the basis that the claim was extinguished” after 12 months had lapsed.

She argued the 12-month delay in lodging the proceedings was unlawful.

Mr Lehrmann’s legal team are arguing that he was reasonably delayed in commencing defamation proceedings because of the ongoing criminal proceedings.

“He had advice to wait,” Mr Richardson said.

“When the overlap of the defamation and the criminal trial, as it is here, is so profound, it could not be reasonable to commence defamation proceedings once criminal charges on the same issue had been laid.”

The journalists covered allegations by Brittany Higgins that she had been sexually assaulted by Mr Lehrmann. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Texts released by the Federal Court appear to show Mr Lehrmann engaging a criminal lawyer on the day of Ms Maiden’s article and Ms Wilkinson’s broadcast on The Project.

The friend provided a number for Warwick ‘Rick’ Korn – “a specialist in these matters” – and urged Mr Lehrmann to “call him right now”.

The court heard Mr Lehrmann met with the lawyer for six hours on the afternoon that Ms Higgins‘ bombshell allegations were revealed.

Mr Korn was expected to be called to give testimony on Thursday, but the court heard he would not take the stand in a last-minute change to the high-profile lawsuit.

Mr Lehrmann’s barrister Matthew Richardson SC agreed it was possible to infer that the lawyer’s testimony “would not assist” his case.

He downplayed the significance of Mr Lehrmann’s texts to friends that he had been advised by Mr Korn that he would not face court over “outrageous” allegations.

In the texts, the former political staffer told friends the allegations were “false” and he was “cleared from criminal (charges) completely”.

Mr Lehrmann admitted to the Federal Court last week that some of the texts were fabrications aimed at placating his girlfriend.

Mr Lehrmann allegedly had a “hit list” of people he wanted to sue. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Flavio Brancaleone

Mr Richardson said it would have been “silly” for his lawyer to give him that advice, and his client was simply putting on “a brave face”.

“Of course he was trying to say to his girlfriend and friends that it would be okay, that he wasn’t going to jail, that he wouldn’t be prosecuted. So what?” he said.

“This is the first day of what immediately became the most high profile sexual assault allegations in the country.”

The messages reveal Mr Lehrmann was confident in his position on the night the publications aired.

“I won’t be going to prison,” he texted a friend on February 15, 2021.

Network Ten barrister Matt Collins KC told the court Mr Lehrmann had defamation at the forefront of his mind after the allegations came to light.

He said the former political staffer had lists of friendly journalists, public relations contacts, and a “hit list of people he wants to sue”.

The respondents claimed Mr Lehrmann was a “habitual liar” because he admitted some of the texts were untrue, but Mr Richardson categorised the statement as “unfair”.

Samantha Maiden is also defending her coverage of Brittany Higgins’ allegations. Picture: Instagram

The court was told Mr Lehrmann was admitted to a mental health facility the day after the allegations were published by news.com.au and Ten.

However, Justice Lee noted “he clearly recovered his mental equilibrium quite quickly”.

Mr Lehrmann stood trial in the ACT Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to sexually assaulting his former colleague in court, but the trial was aborted due to juror misconduct.

The charges were subsequently dropped by the Director of Public Prosecutions and Mr Lehrmann has continued to deny the allegations.