Bruce Lehrmann flees to police station, pulls out of innocence conference following rape judgment

Bruce Lehrmann seeks refuge at a police station amid safety concerns, pulls out of Innocence conference, after judge finds he raped Brittany Higgins.

Bruce Lehrmann leaves a car park following Monday’s judgment. Picture: Liam Mendes

Bruce Lehrmann sought refuge in a regional police station after a Federal Court judge found he raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House, with the former Liberal staffer ushered by officers to an undisclosed location because of safety concerns.

It comes as Mr Lehrmann ­“decided not to appear” at a $100-a-head “Restoring the Presumption of Innocence” conference, hosted by men’s rights activist ­Bettina Arndt, because of an ­“extremely aggressive pursuit by media”.

Judge Michael Lee on Monday handed down his judgment in the defamation case brought by Mr Lehrmann against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, branding him a dishonourable “cad” who raped Ms Higgins and lied to cover himself.

Shortly after the decision, Mr Lehrmann fled the court and refused to speak to media.

He headed to a nearby carpark, which he had used during the trial, and got into his 2019 model Mazda CX9. In recent days, he switched out of his 2020 model grey Volkswagen Golf for the Mazda, presumably in a move to avoid the media attention he had seemed previously to have been courting.

Bruce cuts loose as Lehrmann v Ten ends in disaster for rapist.

Full coverage here: https://t.co/6yOcWgPZLQpic.twitter.com/Jy2HabOfiE

— Liam Mendes (@liammendes) April 15, 2024

Asked by The Australian while exiting the carpark how he felt about being found by Justice Lee to be a rapist, an expressionless Mr Lehrmann did not respond.

With freelance photographers following him, Mr Lehrmann drove up Sydney’s M1 motorway and abandoned the car in a No Stopping zone outside Gosford police station. Sources have told The Australian the 28-year-old sought the protection of officers at the station, who then drove him to an undisclosed location.

One person who witnessed Mr Lehrmann entering the police station joked that “I thought he was handing himself in after being declared a rapist … I thought that he had a change of heart.”

After the judgment, Mr Lehrmann withdrew as a speaker at the upcoming Restoring the Presumption of Innocence conference, which also promised to showcase insights from criminal barristers and academics about how the justice system “no longer offers a fair hearing for men accused of sexual assault”.

“He is being subject to extremely aggressive pursuit by the media and is concerned that his participation may threaten the audience, jeopardise this important event, and distract from its main purpose,” Ms Arndt said.

“(The organisers) have accepted his decision, and will find an alternative presenter while ensuring that the Lehrmann case still receives appropriate attention at the conference as a powerful ­example of trial by media undermining the vital legal principle of the presumption of innocence.”

The conference is still expected to go ahead in June.

In a statement, an NSW police spokesperson said the matter was not subject of a criminal investigation. “A report was made at Gosford Police Station yesterday (Monday); however, as the matter is not subject of a criminal investigation, no further information is available,” they said.

Mr Lehrmann must file a submission on legal costs, likely to amount to at least $5m, in his failed defamation case by April 22.

Costs are expected to be awarded against him, but Mr Lehrmann, an unemployed law student, is highly unlikely to be able to pay ­either Ten’s costs (which include Wilkinson’s) or his own, for barristers Steve Whybrow SC and Matthew Richardson SC, and his solicitors, Mark O’Brien Legal.

He could be declared bankrupt if Ten pursues him for its costs and he is unable to pay.

Over the past year, Mr Lehrmann’s rent was paid by the Seven Network as part of its deal for an exclusive interview on its Spotlight program, but that agreement has come to an end.

Mr Lehrmann is also facing legal costs to defend a charge of rape in Toowoomba, Queensland, which is yet to go to a committal hearing. He is expected to plead not guilty.

In delivering his defamation judgment, Justice Lee found Mr Lehrmann was “hell-bent” on having sex with Ms Higgins after passionately kissing her in a Canberra nightclub, and was “so intent upon gratification” that he “did not care one way or the other whether Ms Higgins understood or agreed to what was going on”.

Mr Lehrmann had always maintained his innocence, and claimed no sexual activity occurred between the pair.

On Monday, Justice Lee found Mr Lehrmann to be a liar, and on the balance of probabilities sexual intercourse took place on the couch in the office of senator Linda Reynolds in March 2019.

The decision does not amount to a finding of criminal guilt.