Judge Lee slams Network Ten’s ‘conduct’ after Lehrmann’s verdict

Judge Michael Lee has criticized Network 10 for its “rather misleading” claims of full vindication following his findings that, on the balance of probabilities, Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House.

Lee made the comments today in federal court, where the amount of costs Lehrmann will have to pay will be decided.

“There are several aspects of Network Ten’s conduct that concern me,” Lee said.

“The various claims made by the Network Ten spokesperson immediately after the verdict, and without even reading the verdict.

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“I do not believe that my research into the behavior of the respondents is devoid of or disconnected from reality, such that the behavior of the respondents is taken apart and dissected according to some kind of standard of perfection.”

He later brought this up again.

“Despite the fact that Network Ten apparently saw fit to go around for a period of 48 hours after the verdict was delivered and effectively say that it had been proven right in relation to all aspects of his conduct.

“That was quite misleading. I made it perfectly clear that what happened in this case was that the respondents fell well short of a standard of reasonableness in believing why they went to bed to report these allegations, and I was very clear about that.