Shane Drumgold is suing the Commission of Inquiry in Bruce Lehrmann’s case after a damning report
Shane Drumgold, former director of ACT’s attorney general’s office, is suing a commission of inquiry over a damning report that ended his career.
The case of Drumgold v Board of Inquiry – Criminal Justice System & Ors is scheduled for a hearing in the ACT Supreme Court on September 14.
The former top prosecutor has been on paid medical leave since May, when he spent five days on the witness stand during the investigation. Despite not being in office, he reportedly still received a weekly salary of $9,266.
Mr Drumgold resigned in early August over a 600-page report by former Judge Walter Sofronoff, which contained a slew of findings against him – including that he had knowingly misled a Chief Justice and lost objectivity.
The report was the result of a Commission of Inquiry – held at the request of Mr Drumgold – which looked into how Bruce Lehrmann’s rape case in October last year was handled by police and prosecutors.
Mr Lehrmann was tried in the ACT High Court in October after his former colleague Brittany Higgins alleged that he raped her in Parliament House after a night out in 2019. He strongly denies the allegations.
The trial initially failed as a rogue juror brought banned investigative material to court before Mr Drumgold dropped the case entirely in December, citing concerns about Ms Higgins’ mental health.
The Commission of Inquiry was set up after ACT DPP Shane Drumgold (pictured) alleged there was political interference in the investigation into Mr Lehrmann
A month before the charges were dropped, Mr Drumgold sent an email to police calling for a commission of inquiry – the ACT’s version of a royal commission – because he believed the Australian Federal Police had conspired not to catch Mr Lehrmann to sue.
In his findings, Mr. Sofronoff said he was deeply disturbed by Mr. Drumgold’s behavior, comparing him to Pontius Pilate – a Roman governor who gave in to demands to crucify Jesus.
The judge also found that Drumgold had knowingly lied to Chief Justice Lucy McCallum about Wilkinson’s infamous Logies speech, in which she spoke of Ms. Higgins’ allegations on television as if they were true, despite the imminent jury trial.
After his resignation was announced, Mr Drumgold denounced Mr Sofronoff’s findings in a defiant statement, criticizing the report for focusing on him rather than the way sexual assault cases are handled within the justice system.
“In my view, the handling of the case reflected Australia’s chronic problem with the way our legal institutions deal with allegations of sexual assault,” he wrote.
“My hope was that a one-issue autopsy would help us better understand why 87 women out of 100 don’t report their experiences?”
Mr Drumgold admitted that he had made ‘mistakes’ during the case, but ‘strongly disputed’ the claim that he was ‘unfair’ and ‘engaged in deliberate or underhanded conduct during the trial’.
“While I accept that my behavior was not perfect, my decisions have all been made in good faith, under intense and at times crippling pressure, executed within an increasingly unmanageable workload,” he said.
Mr Drumgold also spoke of his upbringing in government housing, saying: ‘My career was driven by a fire that burned within… Unfortunately I find that the fire has gone out, and no matter what I try I can’t rekindle it’ .
While I dispute many of the findings of the inquiry, I accept that the premature publicity surrounding me means that my office, the courts and especially the ACT public cannot currently have confidence in the fulfillment of the functions of the Director of Public Ministry. Persecutions.’