Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation claim against Channel 10 and Lisa Wilkinson is now finalised. In the Federal Court Justice, Michael Lee found that Bruce Lehrmann had in fact raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in the early hours of March 23, 2019. His Honour found that Channel 10 and Lisa Wilkinson had not defamed Bruch Lehrmann in an interview with Brittany Higgins in which she made the allegation of sexual assault but did not name Bruce Lehrmann. Justice Lee found that the defence of truth had been made out by lawyers acting for Channel 10 and Lisa Wilkinson.
It’s important to realise that Justice Lee’s finding is according to the civil standard – on the balance of probabilities:
“[Mr Lehrmann] has now been found, at the civil standard of proof, to engage in a great wrong. It follows Ms Higgins has been proven to be a victim of sexual assault.”
According to the civil standard of proof, it was more likely than not that the event occurred. This of course is quite different to the criminal standard of proof of proving that an event occurred beyond a reasonable doubt. That the evidence must be strong and convincing and there is no logical explanation for the event in question. This was the standard that applied in Bruce Lehrmann’s criminal trial which aborted last year.
