Brittany Higgins

The trial of the man accused of raping former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins inside Parliament House in 2019 will go ahead as planned after the ACT ...

In her judgement, Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said Mr Lehrmann had sought the permanent stay on the grounds it would be impossible for the court to find 12 impartial jurors because of publicity surrounding his case. Mr Lehrmann's lawyer also applied for a take-down order to be imposed on media outlets that had run stories about the case, and that the media be banned from publishing any material about the accused or the complainant. - He had sought a permanent stay on the grounds it would be impossible for the court to find 12 impartial jurors because of publicity surrounding the case

But in handing down her judgment at 4pm on Friday in the ACT Supreme Court, Chief Justice Lucy McCallum dismissed the application for a permanent or temporary ...

“The question is one of the appropriate method of regulation,” she said. “Even if the relief sought were granted, it would not result in the cleansing of the internet of all material concerning the complainant’s allegations, as the accused himself accepts,” she said. Chief Justice McCallum said the application for the injunction on the media reporting was “problematic”. “Secondly, he contends that the damaging publicity is of such a nature that nothing a trial judge can do in the conduct of the trial can relieve against the unfair consequences of that publicity.” “First the accused contends that the scope of the publicity is such that it will be impossible for the court to find 12 impartial jurors,” Chief Justice McCallum said. “For a variety of reasons the matter has attracted a considerable amount of public attention,” she said.