Lisa Wilkinson is pictured giving her Logies speech last year
The top prosecutor at the helm of the high-profile rape trial against Bruce Lehrmann sent a text saying ‘oh no’ when he found out about Lisa Wilkinson‘s disastrous Logies speech, which almost derailed the entire case.
Shane Drumgold, the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, told a Board of Inquiry on Monday that he did not watch the television awards on June 19 last year and did not know the contents of Wilkinson’s speech until he looked it up.
During her acceptance speech, the TV journalist said she ‘believed’ Ms Higgins and generally implied the former Liberal staffer’s allegations were true.
Mr Lehrmann was charged with sexual intercourse without consent in August 2021, with the jury set to meet for the first time on June 27, 2022 – eight days after Wilkinson’s speech.
The speech, which was broadcast nationally, ultimately resulted in Mr Lehrmann’s defence lawyers unsuccessfully applying to have the case thrown out on the grounds that Wilkinson’s words may have biased a jury against him.
The case was delayed instead. Mr Lehrmann had pleaded not guilty and has continually maintained his innocence.
Shane Drumgold (pictured), the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions, told a Board of Inquiry on Monday that he did not watch the television awards on June 19 last year
On Monday, counsel assisting the Inquiry Erin Longbottom KC asked Mr Drumgold whether he was alerted to the speech on the morning of June 20.
‘I think I may have been alerted, I can’t quite recall, I may have got a text alerting me that something had happened, it might have been from Skye’ he said, referring to his junior counsel during the trial, Skye Jerome.
When asked what his response was, Mr Drumgold said it was probably words to the effect of ‘oh no’.
‘I was given enough information to conclude that something had gone wrong,’ he recalled.
Mr Drumgold was also quizzed about a Microsoft Teams meeting he had with Wilkinson, a lawyer for Channel 10, and Ms Jerome on June 15 – four days prior to the Logie awards.
The inquiry heard Wilkinson told him she had a speech prepared in the event that she won, and and tried to read it aloud during the meeting as a way of asking whether she should make edits for legal reasons.
Mr Drumgold was adamant that he warned the journalist that any publicity about the case could jeopardise the trial, but did not listen to her speech.
When the head of the inquiry Walter Sofronoff asked why he didn’t listen to her speech, the prosecutor said he effectively thought she was ‘bragging’ about her nomination.
Brittany Higgins alleged Bruce Lehrmann raped her in Parliament House in 2019. He pleaded not guilty. She is pictured, left, outside court in 2022
When Ms Longbottom asked why else Wilkinson would have tried to read her speech to him, Mr Drumgold said ‘I don’t know’.
‘Frankly, when I was hearing it I thought it was Ms Wilkinson pointing out that she was up for a Logie,’ he continued.
Mr Sofronoff interjected: ‘You thought she was bragging about being nominated?’
Mr Drumgold replied: ‘Of that flavour, yes.’
The inquiry, which is the Territory’s version of a royal commission, will examine interactions between prosecutors and ACT Police regarding the charge against Mr Lehrmann, and the decisions to go ahead with a first trial and then not proceed with a retrial.
Conflict arose between ACT Police and prosecutors about whether it was appropriate for police to interview Ms Higgins for a second time. There was also ‘confusion’ about whether Mr Lehrmann should be charged.
Wilkinson won a news and current affairs Logie award for her interview with Brittany Higgins on The Project in February 2021, during which the former parliamentary staffer first aired her sexual assault allegations against Mr Lehrmann.
The ACT government established the inquiry following accusations by police and prosecutors about each other’s conduct during Mr Lehrmann’s 12-day rape trial.
