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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Christopher Knaus

Brittany Higgins: prosecutor to make announcement about retrial of Bruce Lehrmann

Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann is accused of raping Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.
Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann is accused of raping Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPA

Prosecutors will make an announcement about the retrial of Bruce Lehrmann on Friday morning.

Director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold is expected to deliver a statement at 10am on Friday outside his offices in Canberra.

He has not publicly revealed the nature of the announcement. Drumgold is not expected to take questions.

It comes after the first ACT supreme court trial against Lehrmann for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins collapsed in late October due to juror misconduct.

Prosecutors had been preparing for a retrial, which was expected to take place in February.

Lehrmann is accused of raping Higgins in the Parliament House office of their then boss, then defence industry minister Linda Reynolds, after a night of drinking at Canberra bars in March 2019. He has denied the allegations and pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent.

The trial ran over almost a month, before a juror was found to have brought in outside research material, despite express instructions not to do so by trial judge Lucy McCallum.

The chance discovery of the research paper on false accusations in rape cases prompted the collapse of the trial. A further two research papers were later discovered, brought in by the same juror.

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