Lisa Wilkinson's barrister has accused the ACT's top prosecutor of causing the "utter destruction" of the television star by misrepresenting a document in court and failing to correct damaging media reports.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC faced a gruelling fifth straight day in the witness box on Friday, when he continued giving evidence at an inquiry into the case of Bruce Lehrmann.
Mr Drumgold led the aborted prosecution of Mr Lehrmann, who maintains he did not rape fellow former Liberal Party staffer Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.
Ms Higgins first detailed her rape allegations in interviews with journalists Samantha Maiden and Ms Wilkinson, the latter of whom won a Logie award last year for her coverage of the claims.
Eight days before the scheduled start of Mr Lehrmann's trial, Ms Wilkinson gave an acceptance speech that resulted in Chief Justice Lucy McCallum delaying the case for more than three months.
At the time, the ACT Supreme Court judge said Ms Wilkinson had spoken despite Mr Drumgold having given her a "clear and appropriate" warning.
READ MORE:
Chief Justice McCallum based her findings on a file note produced by Mr Drumgold's office and tendered to the court.
Mr Drumgold told the court it was a contemporaneous account of a meeting, at which Ms Wilkinson raised the possibility she would win an award and asked for his opinion on her proposed speech.
According to Mr Drumgold, he told Ms Wilkinson he and his staff were "not speech editors" but advised her any publicity could result in Mr Lehrmann's lawyers seeking a stay of the case.
Ms Wilkinson alleges the note is inaccurate and Mr Drumgold did not mention "publicity" in general, claiming he only warned her against talking about "the trial".
When the inquiry commenced public hearings on Monday, Mr Drumgold admitted the file note was not entirely contemporaneous and had been edited days after its creation to add details about the speech.
However, he denied making a "knowingly false" statement to the court and said he had not intentionally misled anyone.
Ms Wilkinson's barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, raised the issue again on Friday, saying her client had been the victim of "utter destruction" by the media since the speech.
Ms Chrysanthou claimed this could be traced back to the file note that was misrepresented in court.
She also said its allegedly inaccurate contents had resulted in the court making unjustified findings about the warning had Ms Wilkinson received.
In response, Mr Drumgold said he believed at the time he had given Ms Wilkinson an adequate warning because it was "impossible" to mention Ms Higgins without her being linked to the subject of the trial.
"I thought she understood that no speech could be made," the prosecutor told the inquiry.
Ms Chrysanthou questioned how that could possibly be true, wondering whether this understanding had been communicated to him "telepathically".
Eventually, Mr Drumgold conceded he should have simply told Ms Wilkinson she should not make a speech in the event she won a Logie.
"In retrospect, it was a failing," he told the inquiry.
Ms Wilkinson was widely criticised after Mr Lehrmann's trial was delayed, with calls for her to be charged with contempt of court and locked up.
The public backlash resulted in her standing down as a co-host of The Project on Network Ten.
Under cross-examination by Ms Chrysanthou, Mr Drumgold conceded he had opportunities to correct the record and tell the court the file note had not been entirely contemporaneous.
But he denied he had a responsibility to "correct the media" when journalists incorrectly reported that Mr Drumgold had explicitly told Ms Wilkinson not to give a speech.
Mr Drumgold's evidence to the inquiry will continue at a time that is yet to be determined.
Mr Lehrmann's barrister, Steven Whybrow SC, is expected to take the stand when public hearings resume next week.
