Some CCTV which shows 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 which showed the pair during the night in question was handed over to a court on Monday, after a top silk in the defamation proceedings between Mr Lehrmann and media outlets demanded to know why it wasn’t produced earlier.
However, the court also heard other parts of the vision could not be produced because it was not quarantined at the time and was overwritten.
Mr Lehrmann launched defamation suits against Network 10 and TV host Lisa Wilkinson in March over an interview with Ms Higgins’ on the Project – during which she first alleged he raped her in March 2019.
Mr Lehrmann has always denied the allegations.
He also launched proceedings against the ABC over the live broadcast of a National Press Club address by Ms Higgins.
While he was not named in the report or in Ms Higgins’ speech, Mr Lehrmann claims former colleagues and people in political circles were able to identify him.
Some CCTV footage from Parliament House aired on Channel Seven earlier this year, showing Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann on the night in question. However, other footage from other angles was overwritten and automatically deleted, a court heard
Bruce Lehrmann is suing Lisa Wilkinson, Network 10 and the ABC for defamation 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 travelling through the Federal Court since Justice Michael Lee granted an extension of time earlier this year.
Tim Senior, the lawyer acting for Channel 10, said the material produced to the court on Monday was the footage that aired on Seven’s Spotlight program in June.
However, he also said the Department of Parliamentary Services ‘searched various servers’, and the other footage sought by Ten no longer existed.
‘It’s apparent that the material that was the subject of that particular subpoena was not quarantined in any way and was automatically overridden, so that material doesn’t exist,’ Mr Senior said.
‘Searches have been carried out to see whether that material was on a server somewhere, but apparently it’s not.
‘We were satisfied that the scope of the subpoena was understood, the searches had been carried out, and had produced no documents. We were satisfied as to why 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 produced to the court on Monday.
On the last occasion, earlier this month, high-profile defamation silk Sue Chrysanthou SC demanded to know why Parliament House ‘did not have’ some of the CCTV from the night of March 22, 2019, which captured the pair together in Canberra despite it already being broadcast in a Channel 7 Spotlight interview.
At a case management hearing on Monday, Justice Lee was told there no longer had to be evidence given as to why the footage could not be produced as it had been found and produced to the court.
The court was told there had been correspondence with representatives of the Department of Parliamentary Services and the footage was found after they ‘searched various servers’.
The court also heard raw footage from the Spotlight interview had been supplied.
Brittany Higgins during the trial of Bruce Lehrmann last year
Subpoenas were also provided from Penguin Random House and ABC journalist Laura Tingle and were read onto the record by Justice Lee.
One of the subpoenas involved discussions between Mr FitzSimons and Ms Higgins over a lucrative book deal understood to be worth more than $325,000.
A further case management hearing has been scheduled for August.
In May, Mr Lehrmann dropped a defamation lawsuit against News Corp’s News Life Media and journalist Samantha Maiden.
News Life Media did not have to make an apology or pay damages, and the articles of concern have remained online.
Mr Lehrmann’s Supreme Court trial in the ACT last year was aborted due to juror misconduct. He had pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting Ms Higgins.
The charges were subsequently dropped by the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, who declined to pursue a retrial over concerns about Ms Higgins’ mental health.
Mr Lehrmann has continued to deny the allegations.
