Justice Michael Lee said “hyperbolic submissions” about the credibility of witnesses in court cases are not uncommon, but this was one of those cases where expressing criticism is warranted.
“I do not think that Mr Lehrmann is a compulsive liar,” he said, but “I am satisfied in important respects he told deliberate lies”.
Bruce Lehrmann outside the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Lee said he would “not accept anything [Lehrmann] said”, except where it amounted to an admission, accorded with the inherent probabilities, or was corroborated by a witness whose evidence he accepted.
He said an example of Lehrmann’s “false out-of-court statements or unsatisfactory evidence are legion”. This included his initial denial that he found Brittany Higgins attractive, he said.
He said Lehrmann also gave false evidence when he denied any intimacy with Higgins at a Canberra nightclub, 88mph, in the hours before Higgins alleges he raped her in Parliament House.
Lee said the evidence of a former staffer, Lauren Gain, that Higgins and Lehrmann shared a passionate kiss at that venue was “compelling”.
Source Agencies
