Sydney, Australia
CNN
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Prosecutors in Australia have ended a high-profile legal action against a former government employee accused of raping a colleague inside Parliament House, saying a new trial would pose a “significant and unacceptable risk” to the woman’s life.
Australian Capital Territory (ACT) director of public prosecution Shane Drumgold told reporters on Friday that the risk to Brittany Higgins’ mental health must be put before the need for a resolution in the case.
Higgins, a former federal government employee, alleges she was raped by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in the office of the then Australian defense minister in 2019.
Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty to nonconsensual sex and maintains that he has never had sex with Higgins, consensual or otherwise.
The charge has now been dropped.
Drumgold said he had received “compelling evidence” from two independent medical experts that the “ongoing trauma associated with this prosecution presents a significant and unacceptable risk” to Higgins’ life.
“The evidence makes it clear that this is not limited to the harm of testifying on a witness stand,” he said.
The case went to trial in Canberra in October, but the judge ordered a new trial due to jury misconduct. The new trial was scheduled for February 2023.
However, Drumgold told reporters on Friday that a new trial was no longer in the public interest.
“This has left me with no choice but to file a notice refusing to proceed with the retrial of this matter, which I did this morning. This ends the prosecution,” Drumgold said.
Higgins is currently in the hospital, according to a statement from her friend Emma Webster on Friday.
“The last two years have been difficult and unforgiving,” Webster said. “Brittany is extremely grateful for all the support she has received, particularly from our mental health care workers.”
In the original trial, the judge dismissed the 12-member jury deliberating on the rape verdict after it was revealed that a juror had investigated the allegations and brought that information to the jury room.
Higgins alleged that Lehrmann had raped her in 2019 after the two shared a taxi to Parliament House following a night out with colleagues in the capital.
Higgins reached out to police shortly after the alleged incident, but did not file a formal complaint, citing fears that taking the matter further could harm his career.
But in 2021, she spoke to the media and the case made headlines, not only because of the location of the alleged attack, but also because of Higgins’s claims that she had been discouraged from running to avoid political fallout before the 2019 election.
Lehrmann was arrested and charged last year, but the trial was delayed, in part due to fears that the publicity surrounding the case meant he would not get a fair hearing.
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