The man accused of raping former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins will seek to stop his trial going ahead amid concerns about the potential impacts of extensive publicity on the case.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Bruce Lehrmann is due to stand trial in the ACT Supreme Court in June, having pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual intercourse without consent.
The Queensland resident denies allegations he raped Ms Higgins at Parliament House in March 2019, claiming the pair did not engage in any sexual activity whatsoever.
The alleged rape is said to have occurred in the office of federal government minister Linda Reynolds, for whom both Mr Lehrmann and Ms Higgins worked at the time.
Earlier this month, concerns about publicity outside the court process prompted Mr Lehrmann's lawyers to raise the prospect of an application to stay his trial.
On Wednesday, barrister David Campbell SC told the court such an application would be filed later this week and that Mr Lehrmann would seek a permanent halt to legal proceedings.
Failing this, he said, a temporary stay of the matter might be an option.
Mr Campbell indicated Mr Lehrmann's legal team would also contact media outlets and ask them to take down certain material related to the case within a week.
He acknowledged there was unlikely to be "universal assent" from the media and that there would probably also need to be an application asking the court to force publishers to remove what he described as "offending" material.
Finally, the barrister indicated Mr Lehrmann would seek orders preventing further pre-trial reporting about matters connected to the case.
"We are concerned about the nature and extent of the pre-trial publicity, and we are asking the court to do something about it," Mr Campbell told the court.
ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC asked Chief Justice Lucy McCallum to make an order immediately preventing information about the foreshadowed stay application being published in conjunction with Ms Higgins' name.
He argued mere headlines about its likelihood would "increase the prejudice to a fair trial".
But Mr Campbell said he believed the fact of the application being published would aid, rather than interfere with, the administration of justice.
Chief Justice McCallum ultimately refused to make a non-publication order.
She said publicity around the likely application would reinforce remarks she made last week, "perhaps somewhat sternly", about how continued public commentary on the case posed a threat to the prosecution of Mr Lehrmann.
"The more this case is ventilated in public forums, the more likely it is that the accused will not be able to have a fair trial," Chief Justice McCallum said.
The judge added that if a fair trial was not possible, a stay would have to be granted.
Chief Justice McCallum will hear the application for a stay on April 1.
