CCTV of Brittany Higgins, Bruce Lehrmann at Parliament House deleted, cannot be found: court
Some CCTV footage showing Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins at Parliament House on the night of her alleged rape was automatically overwritten and cannot be recovered, a court has heard.
Portions of footage showing the couple on the night in question were handed over to a court on Monday after a top side in the defamation suit between Mr Lehrmann and the media demanded why it had not been produced sooner.
However, the court also heard that other parts of the vision could not be produced because it had not been quarantined at the time and had been overwritten.
Mr Lehrmann brought defamation charges against Network 10 and TV presenter Lisa Wilkinson in March during an interview with Ms Higgins’ on the Project – in which she first alleged that he had raped her in March 2019.
Mr Lehrmann has always denied the allegations.
He also filed suit against the ABC over Ms. Higgins’ live broadcast of a National Press Club speech.
Although he is not mentioned in the report or in Ms Higgins’ speech, Mr Lehrmann claims that former colleagues and people in political circles were able to identify him.
Some CCTV footage of Parliament House was broadcast on Channel Seven earlier this year, showing Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann on the night in question. However, other images from other angles were overwritten and automatically deleted, a court heard
Bruce Lehrmann is suing Lisa Wilkinson, Network 10 and the ABC for libel over Ten’s coverage of Ms Higgins’ claims and the ABC’s broadcast of a National Press Club speech by Ms Higgins
The case has been pending in Federal Court since Judge Michael Lee granted a stay earlier this year.
Tim Senior, Channel 10’s lawyer, said the material presented to the court on Monday was the footage broadcast on Seven’s Spotlight program in June.
However, he also said that the Department of Parliamentary Services has “searched various servers” and that the other images sought by Ten no longer exist.
“Obviously the material that was the subject of that particular subpoena has not been quarantined in any way and has been automatically lifted, so that material does not exist,” Mr Senior said.
‘They searched to see if that material was on a server somewhere, but apparently not.
“We were satisfied that the scope of the subpoena had been understood, that the searches had been carried out and that no documents had been produced. We were pleased that no documents were produced in response to that subpoena.”
Documents from numerous parties — including author Peter FitzSimons, publisher Penguin Random House and ABC journalist Laura Tingle — were subpoenaed and presented to the court on Monday.
On the latest occasion, earlier this month, high-profile defamation side Sue Chrysanthou SC demanded to know why Parliament House ‘didn’t have’ part of the CCTV of the night of March 22, 2019, which captured the pair in Canberra despite already being broadcast in a Channel 7 Spotlight interview.
At a case management hearing on Monday, Judge Lee was told that no further evidence was needed as to why the footage could not be produced as it had been found and presented to the court.
The court was told that there had been correspondence with representatives of the Department of Parliamentary Services and that the footage was found after “searching various servers”.
The court also learned that raw footage of the Spotlight interview had been provided.
Brittany Higgins at the trial of Bruce Lehrmann last year
Subpoenas were also provided by Penguin Random House and ABC journalist Laura Tingle and were read by Justice Lee.
One of the subpoenas concerned discussions between Mr. FitzSimons and Ms. Higgins about a lucrative book deal believed to be worth more than $325,000.
Another hearing on case management is scheduled for August.
In May, Mr. Lehrmann filed a libel lawsuit against News Life Media of News Corp. and journalist Samantha Maiden.
News Life Media was not required to apologize or pay damages, and the troubling articles have remained online.
Mr Lehrmann’s Supreme Court trial in the ACT last year was aborted due to misconduct by a juror. He had pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting Mrs. Higgins.
The charges were subsequently dropped by ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions, who declined to initiate a new trial due to concerns over Ms Higgins’ mental health.
Mr. Lehrmann continued to deny the allegations.