A warning for readers: this blog contains graphic details of allegations of sexual assault.
Lehrmann has sued Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, alleging they have defamed him. Follow the latest news from the federal court today
Bruce Lehrmann has arrived at court this morning:
He is now present in the courtroom as Brittany Higgins gives her evidence – sitting in the front row in the furthest seat from the witness box.
Continue reading...Court also told Seven Network paid Lehrmann’s rent for 12 months to compensate him for two interviews with the Spotlight program
Brittany Higgins has taken the stand in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson at the start of evidence the defence says will be “graphic and distressing”.
Network Ten’s barrister, Matt Collins KC, said Higgins will tell the court about being allegedly sexually assaulted by Lehrmann in senator Linda Reynolds’ office in 2019 after a night when she had consumed at least 12 vodkas and was “more drunk than she had ever been in her life”.
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Bruce Lehrmann has admitted his rent was paid by the Seven Network for his interview on the Spotlight program.
Lehrmann agreed under cross-examination that Seven had paid his rent for 12 months as part of the deal.
Continue reading...Former Liberal staffer’s varying accounts in wake of after-hours visit to Parliament House in 2019 come under intense scrutiny under cross examination at defamation trial
Bruce Lehrmann has admitted under cross-examination in his defamation trial that he lied twice in a letter to his boss and again in an interview he gave to Seven’s Spotlight program.
On the fourth day of proceedings he brought against the Ten Network and Lisa Wilkinson, Lehrmann’s varying accounts of what happened in the wake of his after-hours visit to Parliament House in 2019 came under intense scrutiny.
Continue reading...At defamation trial against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, Lehrmann says two later emails he sent Higgins failed to mention evening because it was ‘uneventful’
Bruce Lehrmann has denied during his defamation trial having sexual intercourse with Brittany Higgins while she was “semi-conscious or passed out” on a couch in Parliament House.
At Lehrmann’s civil case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson, Matt Collins KC for Ten put a series of propositions to him about what happened between 1.48am and 2.30am on 23 March 2019.
Continue reading...Former Liberal staffer also tells defamation trial that he didn’t tell Brittany Higgins he was leaving office because he ‘wasn’t even sure she was still there’
Bruce Lehrmann said he must have been “mistaken” when he told the Australian Federal Police he did not have any alcohol in his office – and under cross-examination he conceded he had multiple bottles of whisky and gin at the time.
The former Liberal staffer also admitted telling three different stories – including two that were lies – about the reason for his after-hours visit to Parliament House but denied sexually assaulting Brittany Higgins after they entered the ministerial office together.
Information and support for anyone affected by rape or sexual abuse issues is available from the following organisations. In Australia, support is available at 1800Respect (1800 737 732). The crisis support service Lifeline is at 13 11 14.
Continue reading...Free speech advocate Hisham Kassem sentenced for defaming former minister Kamal Abu Eita
A court in Cairo has sentenced a former newspaper publisher, free speech advocate and rights activist to six months in prison, in a trial observers say constitutes an attack on a leading critic of the Egyptian state.
Hisham Kassem, the former publisher of Al Masry Al Youm newspaper, received six months in detention and a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds (approximately £523) for slandering and defaming Kamal Abu Eita. Abu Eita is a former minister and current member of Egypt’s presidential pardon committee, tasked with granting clemency towards some of the tens of thousands of detainees in the Egyptian prison system.
Continue reading...Admission made in defamation trial against national broadcaster over allegations about the execution of an Afghan prisoner
Heston Russell has admitted to altering an invoice before giving it to an ABC journalist who asked for proof the former commando had paid a veterans’ charity the money he said he had raised for it.
Russell is suing the ABC over two online news articles, a television news item and a radio broadcast that relate to the alleged actions in Afghanistan in 2012 of the November platoon, which Russell commanded.
Continue reading...Lawyers for Network Ten are examining footage from Spotlight interview as they prepare to defend themselves against Lehrmann’s defamation case
Lawyers for Network Ten are examining raw footage of Channel Seven’s recent interview with Bruce Lehrmann as they prepare to defend themselves against his defamation case.
Lehrmann is currently suing Network Ten, Lisa Wilkinson and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in the federal court, alleging they defamed him by wrongly suggesting he raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House in 2019.
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Continue reading...Ex-soldier lost case against three newspapers in June with trial judge finding they had proven on the balance of probabilities that Roberts-Smith murdered unarmed civilians in Afghanistan
Ben Roberts-Smith has launched an appeal after he lost his war crimes defamation trial in the federal court.
Justice Anthony Besanko found in June that three newspapers had proven Roberts-Smith had, on the balance of probabilities, murdered unarmed civilians while serving in the Australian military in Afghanistan.
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Continue reading...Federal court orders account details be given to Nurul Khan so he can sue the person for defamation
Google has been ordered to hand over the account information and IP address of a person who a Victorian Labor candidate alleges defamed them in an email.
Nurul Khan was endorsed to run for the Labor party in last year’s state election, but an email littered with allegations against him was sent to ministers and news organisations on 9 November.
Continue reading...Higgins had called on the senator to ‘stop’ after Reynolds confirmed she intended to refer commonwealth’s settlement with Higgins to anti-corruption watchdog
Brittany Higgins has revealed she has received a defamation threat from her former boss Linda Reynolds over an Instagram post that included a list of complaints against the senator.
Reynolds has responded by accusing Higgins of “defamation of my character”.
Continue reading...HarperCollins ‘sincerely apologises’ to doctor for claims about Sydney hospital in ABC journalist Steve Cannane’s book
A long-running defamation case sparked by the ABC journalist Steve Cannane’s 2016 book on Scientology has ended with a confidential settlement and an apology.
Fair Game: The Incredible Untold Story of Scientology in Australia included a range of claims about the use of a controversial psychiatric treatment – deep sleep therapy – at Sydney’s Chelmsford private hospital in the 1960s and 70s.
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Liberal senator David Van is speaking to Sydney radio 2GB about independent senator Lidia Thorpe’s allegations in the Senate yesterday.
Thorpe withdrew the remarks to comply with the Senate’s standing orders but said she would be making a statement on the issue today.
Continue reading...Lehrmann is suing Ten and Lisa Wilkinson in the federal court over their initial reporting of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations, which he denies
Federal police have been asked to investigate the alleged leaking of evidence from the trial of Bruce Lehrmann to the media by a lawyer representing Network Ten.
Marlia Saunders, a partner at Thomson Geer, who is representing Network Ten in a defamation case brought by Lehrmann against them, confirmed she had made a complaint to the AFP on 7 June regarding the leak.
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Continue reading...Former political staffer suing national broadcaster over a February 2022 joint address by Higgins and Grace Tame at the National Press Club
Bruce Lehrmann has accused the Australian Broadcasting Corporation of acting maliciously by broadcasting Brittany Higgins’ National Press Club address, saying in court documents it was “wilfully blind” to the risk of her defaming him or making prejudicial comments close to his trial.
Lehrmann is suing the ABC over a joint address by Higgins and Grace Tame to the National Press Club in February 2022, which was broadcast live and later uploaded in full to the ABC’s YouTube channel.
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Continue reading...Greens say removal would be ‘first step in correcting the official record’ after federal court dismisses defamation case
The Australian War Memorial is facing calls to remove Ben Roberts-Smith’s uniform from its display, after the federal court dismissed the defamation case initiated by Australia’s most decorated living soldier.
But the Australian Special Air Service Association has argued it was “a very disappointing day” for veterans who had served in Afghanistan, saying the majority who had done the right thing were being “re-traumatised after having gone through a difficult war”.
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Continue reading...Seven chairman Kerry Stokes, who parachuted the former soldier into a network job in 2015, says ‘the judgment does not accord with the man I know’
For Seven’s chairman, Kerry Stokes, the verdict in the Ben Roberts-Smith defamation trial was all bad news.
The cost of the trial is estimated to be between $25m and $35m and, with the billionaire media proprietor bankrolling the former soldier and Seven employee, Stokes’s legal tab will be significant if he does pick up the bill.
Continue reading...Criticism over latest development in long-running libel dispute between the leading Brexit backer and the journalist
The award-winning Observer and Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr has been ordered to pay significant legal costs to the prominent Brexit backer Arron Banks.
Banks, who donated a record £8m to the pro-Brexit Leave.EU campaign group, originally lost his case against Cadwalladr in his libel action over her remarks in a speech and a tweet.
Continue reading...Molan and media outlet mutually agree to discontinue legal proceedings at federal court mediation on Thursday
The legal stoush between the Daily Mail and Sky News broadcaster Erin Molan has been settled.
The Daily Mail on Thursday reached a walk-away settlement with the television presenter.
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