Shane Drumgold is being accused of “aligning” himself with Brittany Higgins by Bruce Lehrmann’s attorney, who has previously criticised the actions of the ACT’s chief prosecutor.
Steven Whybrow expressed his dissatisfaction with a public statement made by Drumgold on the day the DPP decided it would not pursue a retrial during an investigation looking into how the case was handled.
Drumgold told the media in December that he still thought there was a “reasonable prospect of a conviction,” but that he was dropping the rape charge out of concern for Higgins’ mental health in the event of a second trial.
It was a “moot point” from Drumgold, according to Whybrow, who called it a “pejorative stab” at Lehrmann.
Whybrow testified before the inquiry, “It was just an unnecessary statement that could only be picked up and, with the endorsement of the DPP, taken by people in the community to suggest that he had thought he [Lehrmann] was guilty.”
Due to misbehaviour by the first jury, the case was dismissed, and Lehrmann was not found guilty.
Today, more information on the tight relationship between police and prosecutors was provided to the inquiry.
Whybrow claimed, “My impression was that Mr. Drumgold was the one who was hostile towards the police.”
Drumgold was worried by claims that the ACT police were “undercharging” in sexual assault cases, according to his attorney, Mark Tedeschi.
Police, according to Tedeschi, took a “bizarre approach” to determining whether Lehrmann should have been charged in the first place, she said.
“We want to prove that it’s true that [police] did have this attitude to sex cases generally and that [the Lehrmann case] was a classic example of it,” he stated.
“This matter would have been handled like the other matters that have been, in effect, just ignored by the police, if it weren’t for all the publicity, and if it weren’t for the fact that the alleged offence occurred in Parliament House.”
Leading ACT investigators will testify in the ongoing investigation on Monday.
