A senior ACT police officer has told an inquiry he was “immediately suspicious” of Brittany Higgins’s allegation she was raped in Parliament House, saying he questioned her motives for the complaint because she intended to speak to the media.
Det Supt Scott Moller had oversight of the ACT police investigation into Higgins’s allegation she was raped by her former Liberal party colleague Bruce Lehrmann in 2019. He spent a second day in the witness box on Tuesday, being cross-examined before an independent inquiry into the ACT criminal justice system’s handling of the case.
In his statement to the inquiry, Moller said that during a briefing in February 2021 he was told Higgins wanted to delay making a formal police statement until after media reports had been published about her allegation. Higgins told police she had already undertaken media interviews.
“I did not understand why Ms Higgins had chosen to involve the media prior to providing police with a formal statement, however my briefing articulated that Ms Higgins wanted to ensure the investigation was ‘active’ to support the media releases.
“This had me immediately suspicious and questioning the motives of Ms Higgins for reporting the incident. This strategy by Ms Higgins significantly hindered the investigation as it was also extremely difficult for investigators to progress the investigation without a statement of complaint.”
Moller urged Higgins not to speak to the media on several occasions during the investigation.
Lehrmann, who pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent, has always denied the allegation of rape and no findings have been made against him. He was tried in the ACT supreme court last year but a mistrial was declared after juror misconduct. A planned retrial was abandoned after expert medical advice warned it posed a “significant and unacceptable risk” to Higgins’s mental health and her life.
Much of the independent inquiry, before former Queensland solicitor general Walter Sofronoff, has focused on tensions between police and the director of public prosecutions over the decision to charge Lehrmann. The DPP, Shane Drumgold, believed police were reluctant to lay charges, while police have told the inquiry they did not believe charges were justified, based on the evidence they had gathered.
Moller has told the inquiry he did not believe there was enough evidence to charge Lehrmann, but he decided to lay charges – signing the summons himself – after receiving advice from the DPP.
He said he believed Drumgold was “dismissive” of police concerns, “and had a predetermined position to charge and prosecute the subject”.
“I remember specifically being told at one of the meetings between the investigation team and Mr Drumgold at Belconnen police station. Mr Drumgold said ‘it doesn’t matter what he says’ in reference to Mr Lehrmann being interviewed. At that stage Mr Lehrmann had not yet been offered a police interview. This comment shocked and concerned the investigators.”
Moller said he was “concerned for the independence and integrity of the investigation” and arranged to meet with Drumgold.
“When I met with Mr Drumgold on 1 June 2021 it was clear to me that he had already decided on progressing the prosecution even though he had not reviewed the evidence.”
In earlier evidence before the inquiry, Drumgold said he had believed police were reluctant to charge Lehrmann, and had engaged either in “unsophisticated corruption” or “atomic-level stupidity” in trying to stop the case proceeding.
In correspondence, Drumgold said there was a “very clear campaign to pressure” him not to charge Lehrmann, and that police investigators were “clearly aligned with the successful defence of this matter” during the trial.
Drumgold later told the inquiry he no longer believed in a possible political conspiracy to derail the prosecution, and that he now thought a “skills deficit” on behalf of the officers explained police actions during the investigation.
Conversely, Moller told the inquiry there was immense pressure on police to “progress” the Lehrmann investigation. He said the pressure came from intense media interest, the DPP and the upper echelons of the Australian federal police.
“There was a significant amount of pressure on all of us,” he said on Tuesday. “There was pressure from my organisation … above me.”
In his statement, Moller said the AFP commissioner, Reece Kershaw, urged him to “get it done” when they met incidentally in Canberra.
“The commissioner inquired how the investigation was progressing and I mentioned that we were soon to travel to Brisbane to interview the suspect. He seemed pleased with this and inquired if we were going to arrest and extradite him.
“I commented and stated that if we did get to that stage, we would be more inclined to summons rather than arrest and charge. He said ‘well, we need to get it done, just get it done’.
“This is an example of how much pressure was on everyone involved with this matter.”
In June 2021, Moller met with Commander Michael Chew, who said the DPP had told him they would recommend prosecution.
Moller’s statement said: “Commander Chew stated ‘if it was my choice, I would not proceed, but it is not my choice, there is too much political interference’.
“I said ‘that’s disappointing, given I think there is insufficient evidence’.”
Moller told the inquiry on Tuesday that Drumgold had “lost objectivity” in the Lehrmann matter.
Moller remains in the witness box. Other police are expected to follow this week.
