“Ms Albrechtsen was the most persistent of the journalists,but that didn’t reflect preferential treatment on his part,” Lim told the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday. “The fact that Ms Albrechtsen asked more questions than any other journalist is really beside the point – the fact is there was no preferential treatment.”
Former ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold is fighting to invalidate Sofronoff’s report,which contains several findings against him,including that he misled the court,questioned a witness inappropriately,and preyed on his junior solicitor’s inexperience in having him draft an affidavit supporting a wrongful legal privilege claim.
Lehrmann pleaded not guilty to the alleged rape of his colleague Brittany Higgins in Parliament House after a night out in March 2019. The trial was abandoned in October 2022 due to juror misconduct and Lehrmann maintains his innocence.
The ACT government launched an inquiry into the handling of the criminal case after Drumgold accused police of trying to undermine the prosecution. However,in his report Sofronoff made several findings against Drumgold,which the latter is seeking to void,largely on the basis the chair held apprehended bias against him.
While challenging a raft of claims put by Drumgold about the fairness and reasonableness of the findings,Kate Eastman,SC,acting for the territory government,told the Supreme Court the prosecutor became “significantly and medically unwell” while giving evidence in the inquiry.
Drumgold had withdrawn from giving evidence before his fifth day in the witness box,with the inquiry later determining he didn’t need to be recalled. “[It] could be detrimental to my current state of health to be subject to the ongoing pressures of giving evidence,” Eastman quoted Drumgold as stating at the time.
The ACT’s legal team said,despite this,he was given the opportunity to respond to certain allegations via written means.