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Bruce Lehrmann heads back to court · The Front

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  Speaker 1: You can listen to the Front on your smart sneaker
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  Speaker 2: Just say play the news from the Australian. From the Australian,
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  Speaker 2: here's what's on the front. I'm Kristin Amiot. It's Monday,
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  Speaker 2: June seventeenth. Invest in big ideas, not welfare. That's the
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  Speaker 2: call from Opposition Finance folkeswoman Jane Hume. In a speech
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  Speaker 2: at the Sydney Institute today, she'll lay out coalition policies
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  Speaker 2: designed to boost female entrepreneurs and empower more women to
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  Speaker 2: can read Ben Packham's analysis of the Chinese premier's visit
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  Speaker 2: so far at the Australian dot com dot au. Bruce
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  Speaker 2: Lemmon is headed back to court today, this time in
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  Speaker 2: his hometown of Toowoomba. The former Liberal staffer is charged
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  Speaker 2: with two counts of rape relating to an alleged incident
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  Speaker 2: that occurred in the Queensland city in twenty twenty one.
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  Speaker 2: He's likely to plead not guilty. That's today's episode. A
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  Speaker 2: note before we start this episode mentions sexual assault. A
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  Speaker 2: couple of hours drive west of Brisbane in Queensland's Darling
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  Speaker 2: Downs region. The city of Toawoomba is known for its
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  Speaker 2: sprawling gardens, historic Queenslander architecture and vast valleys just west
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  Speaker 2: of the Great Dividing Range. About one hundred and forty
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  Speaker 2: thousand people called to Woomba home, and it's produced some
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  Speaker 2: of Australia's best known sporting, cultural and academic figures. There's
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  Speaker 2: TV presenter Son new Krueger, the actor Jeffrey Rush, champion
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  Speaker 2: eight hundred meter runner at Peter Bowl, and rugby league
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  Speaker 2: legend Jonathan Thurston, among many others. It's also the hometown
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  Speaker 2: of former Liberal staffer Bruce Lahman. He'll be back in
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  Speaker 2: town today for his first appearance at the to Woomba
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  Speaker 2: Magistrates Court, where he's charged with two counts of rape
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  Speaker 2: for an incident. That's alleged to have occurred in late
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty one to.
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  Speaker 1: Woombur is one of the country's largest regional centers. It's
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  Speaker 1: just after canber in terms of size.
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  Speaker 2: Mackenzie Scott is a reporter based in the Australians Queensland Bureau.
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  Speaker 2: She'll be into Woomba today for the hearing.
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  Speaker 1: And it's really well known for its annual flower festival.
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  Speaker 1: That's what a lot of Brisbane Nites know it for.
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  Speaker 1: So the town itself, it's quite large. It's a quietservative
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  Speaker 1: population as well. A lot of people go there to retire.
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  Speaker 1: But there's definitely two different sides of Twamba. There's the
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  Speaker 1: beautiful rich retirees from out West and out east, but
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  Speaker 1: there's also a lot of lower socioeconomic areas there as well,
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  Speaker 1: and a lot of crime associated with that too. And
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  Speaker 1: this is where Bruce Lehman grew up. This is where
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  Speaker 1: he lived with his mother before heading off to Canberra
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  Speaker 1: to study.
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  Speaker 2: Lhman's homecoming is likely to garner national interest. He's recently
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  Speaker 2: notified the Federal Court of Australia of his intention to
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  Speaker 2: appeal Justice Michael Lee's finding on the Balance of probabilities
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  Speaker 2: that he raped Britney Higgins inside Parliament House in the
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  Speaker 2: early hours of March twenty three, twenty nineteen. It's important
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  Speaker 2: to note that the Ta Womba matter is unrelated to
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  Speaker 2: everything that played out in Sydney's Federal Court in recent months.
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  Speaker 2: Lehman is likely to plead not guilty and this charge
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  Speaker 2: will be tested in courts on the evidence. Lahman sued
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  Speaker 2: network ten and TV presenter Lisa Wilkinson for defamation after
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  Speaker 2: Higgins's allegation against him was aired in an episode of
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  Speaker 2: the project. Almost two years later, in twenty twenty.
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  Speaker 3: One, Tonight claims of rape roadblocks to a police investigation
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  Speaker 3: and a young woman forced to choose between her career
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  Speaker 3: and the pursuit of justice.
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  Speaker 2: Lahman's notice of appeal, which the law student prepared himself,
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  Speaker 2: states he was denied procedural fairness by Justice Lee and
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  Speaker 2: the ultimate finding that caused him to lose the case
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  Speaker 2: was contrary to the evidence presented at trial.
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  Speaker 4: Having escaped the lines dead, mister Lehrmitt made the mistake
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  Speaker 4: of coming back free his head.
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  Speaker 1: It's a beautiful sandstar and historic magistrate's call. It was
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  Speaker 1: built in the eighteen hundreds, so has definitely seen a
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  Speaker 1: fair share of crime and trials.
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  Speaker 2: His appearance at today's hearing marks the first time Lehman
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  Speaker 2: is facing a judge in this matter. He's on bail
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  Speaker 2: and hasn't been required to attend any hearings up to
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  Speaker 2: this point. Instead, Lahman's been represented by barrister Patrick Wilson
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  Speaker 2: and his lawyer Rowan King at earlier proceedings and has
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  Speaker 2: yet to formally enter a plea.
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  Speaker 1: I spoke to mister King earlier today. He confirmed that
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  Speaker 1: mister Lemon would be attending in person, that this has
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  Speaker 1: been on the cards for some time and that he
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  Speaker 1: has been inundated with media interests in the past forty
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  Speaker 1: eight hours about his involvement in the case. He has
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  Speaker 1: been representing mister Lehmon from the beginning and was also
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  Speaker 1: involved in a suppression order applications once the law changes
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  Speaker 1: in Queensland came through.
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  Speaker 2: This is a committal hearing and it's expected to take
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  Speaker 2: about half a day. That means the prosecutor will lay
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  Speaker 2: out the evidence in their case and the magistrate will
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  Speaker 2: decide if there's enough there for the matter to proceed
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  Speaker 2: to trial. Ventz also has the opportunity to cross examine
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  Speaker 2: witnesses and Lahman's lawyers previously indicated they intend to question
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  Speaker 2: the complainant in this case. At a directions hearing held
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  Speaker 2: in February, Wilson said the parties were in agreement about
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  Speaker 2: the scope of that cross examination. According to Queensland Police,
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  Speaker 2: the complainant met Bruce Lammon at a strip club in
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  Speaker 2: October of twenty twenty one, eight months after Britney Higgins
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  Speaker 2: went public with her allegation against him. The twenty eight
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  Speaker 2: year old woman said he introduced himself as Bryce. She
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  Speaker 2: claims they had consensual sex that night, but that he
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  Speaker 2: didn't wear a condom when they engaged in intercourse twice
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  Speaker 2: the next morning, a move for which she claims she
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  Speaker 2: never gave her consent. If her allegation's proven, that's considered
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  Speaker 2: sexual assault under Queensland law. The contents of the complainant's
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  Speaker 2: phone were handed to Wilson and King in November. At
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  Speaker 2: that time, King said it would take weeks to review
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  Speaker 2: the five hundred files and requested a six week adjournment
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  Speaker 2: to get a ross the material. A voice actor is
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  Speaker 2: reading the words spoken by Rowan King in court.
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  Speaker 4: Effectively, there are some clerical matters with respect to the
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  Speaker 4: data that has been provided. The disclosure consists of between
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  Speaker 4: four hundred to five hundred files which are locked, which
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  Speaker 4: means I can't do what I usually do with this
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  Speaker 4: type of disclosure, such as combine the documents and perform
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  Speaker 4: a word or phrase search. It's slightly slowing down the
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  Speaker 4: process on my end.
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  Speaker 2: Coming up after the break, the long and Winding Road
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  Speaker 2: to the Toowoomba Magistrates Court. Subscribers get first access to
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  Speaker 2: the Australian's comprehensive reporting and analysis of the Laman legal saga,
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  Speaker 2: plus says breaking news alerts, newsletters and expert commentary. To
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  Speaker 2: check us out at the Australian dot com dot au
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  Speaker 2: and we'll be back after this break. For almost a year,
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  Speaker 2: the defendant in this matter, Bruce Lamman, was known only
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  Speaker 2: to the public as a high profile man in early
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  Speaker 2: twenty twenty three. On January eleven, Queensland Police told the
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  Speaker 2: media they charged a twenty seven year old man with
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  Speaker 2: two counts of rape dating back to October twenty twenty one.
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  Speaker 2: We now know that man was Laman, who just turned
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  Speaker 2: twenty nine, but legislation in place in Queensland when that
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  Speaker 2: media release was issued prevented the press from naming people
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  Speaker 2: accused of sexual assault until those matters were committed to trial.
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  Speaker 2: That law was scrapped by the Queensland government on October
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  Speaker 2: three of last year. It was a big part of
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  Speaker 2: the government's response to a report by the Women's Safety
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  Speaker 2: and Justice Task Force, which made eighty nine recommendations for
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  Speaker 2: curbing coercive control in the Sunshine State. Here's Queensland Attorney
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  Speaker 2: General evet Dath.
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  Speaker 5: Part of the basis of this protection for ACQUS rapists
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  Speaker 5: is that women maliciously make up complaints to damage with
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  Speaker 5: pres mutations. These rape myths have no place in our society.
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  Speaker 2: Now people charged with sexual assault in Queensland can be
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  Speaker 2: identified before a judge makes a call on committal. Lahman's
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  Speaker 2: lawyers sought a non publication order to protect his identity
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  Speaker 2: after the new legislation kicked in. The former Liberal staffer
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  Speaker 2: had already faced a criminal trial for raping Britney Higgins.
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  Speaker 2: That trial was sensationally aborted in October twenty twenty two
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  Speaker 2: due to dura misconduct, and his lawyer said the prospect
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  Speaker 2: of being identified publicly following those high profile proceedings was
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  Speaker 2: weighing heavily on him. They argued a non publication order
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  Speaker 2: was necessary to protect their client's mental health, but less
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  Speaker 2: than a fortnight later, Magistrate Claire Kelly ruled the NPO
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  Speaker 2: wasn't necessary. A barrister acting for a handful of media outlets,
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  Speaker 2: including News Corp Australia, which publishes The Australian, successfully argued
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  Speaker 2: in court that Bruce Lahman had voluntarily placed himself in
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  Speaker 2: a public forum that included a tell all interview Lehman
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  Speaker 2: gave to Channel seven Spotlight program, in which he appeared
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  Speaker 2: to promise retribution for reputational damage he believed had been
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  Speaker 2: caused by extensive media reporting of the criminal proceedings.
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  Speaker 4: Bruce Laam, Morning, you really slights and fires.
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  Speaker 2: Lehman's lawyers said the magistrate got it wrong and so
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  Speaker 2: back to court it went. Before the month was out.
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  Speaker 2: Supreme Court Justice Peter Applegarth said Magistrate Kelly was reasonable
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  Speaker 2: and so for the first time in almost a year,
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  Speaker 2: Bruce Lehman's name was back out there, this time in
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  Speaker 2: relation to a new and serious allegation of sexual assault. Finally,
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  Speaker 2: the veil of secrecy is shattered. Bruce Lehreman can be
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  Speaker 2: revealed as the man facing two counts of rape into Woomba.
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  Speaker 2: The complainant in today's proceedings says she came forward to
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  Speaker 2: police after searching for Britney Higgins's allegation against Bruce Lahman
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  Speaker 2: on Google and identified him as the man with whom
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  Speaker 2: she'd had a sexual encounter three months earlier. When Laman
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  Speaker 2: was finally named as the accused in the Tewoomba matter,
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  Speaker 2: Higgins voiced her support for the twenty eight year old
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  Speaker 2: woman on social media. She wrote on Instagram, when I
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  Speaker 2: first found out about the alleged assault, my heart broke.
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  Speaker 2: For you to know that this has allegedly taken place
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  Speaker 2: while he was out on bail in twenty twenty one
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  Speaker 2: is devastating. Lahman issued a fiery rebuke to Higgins via
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  Speaker 2: a statement. He said a non publication order would have
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  Speaker 2: prevented Higgins from making the prejudicial post and stopped it
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  Speaker 2: from being widely reported in the media. Laman reiterated he'd
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  Speaker 2: never been found criminally responsible for rape, and said Higgins
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  Speaker 2: has a total disregard for how our justice system rightly operates,
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  Speaker 2: with the presumption of innocence at its core. Mackenzie Scott
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  Speaker 2: is a reporter with it's the Australian. Come back to
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  Speaker 2: the front tomorrow to hear how the committal hearing unfolded
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  Speaker 2: in the Toowoomba Magistrates Court. And for all the nation's
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  Speaker 2: best news, sport and politics, go to the Australian dot
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  Speaker 2: com dot au