Retired Judge Leads Bruce Lehrman Trial Investigation

live

An investigation into the handling of the case against former liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has taken a big step forward by making a decision on who will lead the review.

Walter Sofronov KC, a retired Queensland judge, has been named to lead an investigation into the conduct of police and prosecutors in the abandoned trial.

The Commission of Inquiry is equivalent to the Royal Commission of the ACT Government.

The review was released in December after ACT Chief Prosecutor Shane Drumgold claimed police pressured him to abandon the trial.

ACT Prime Minister Andrew Barr said the investigation would examine the “rigor, impartiality and independence” of the criminal justice system in the Lehrmann case.

Mr Sofronov is retired Queensland Attorney General and was previously Chief of the Queensland Court of Appeals.

He headed the Grantham Floods Commission of Inquiry in 2016 and most recently oversaw the Commission of Inquiry into the failure of Qld’s DNA testing laboratory.

Bruce Lehrmann was tried in the ACT Supreme Court in October, but was derailed by jury misconduct.

Charges against him were later dropped due to concerns about the impact of the second trial on Brittany Higgins’ mental health.

Lehmann has denied raping Higgins at the Capitol in 2019.

Appears on weekends Liberal Senator Linda Reynolds had filed a defamation lawsuit against Higgins’ partner, David Sharaz.

In a warrant filed with the Western Australian Supreme Court, a local senator claimed Sharaz falsely defamed her through two tweets posted in 2022.

Higgins claimed she was raped by Bruce Lehrman in Senator Reynolds’ Cabinet Office in 2019.