A senior detective has revealed he is a sexual assault survivor while launching a passionate and deeply personal defence of the police investigation into Bruce Lehrmann.
Detective Superintendent Scott Moller told an inquiry on Wednesday he had been a victim of sexual assault 45 years ago, saying the experience had driven his desire to be a police officer.
The detective has been criticised at the inquiry, which is examining the conduct of police, the Director of Public Prosecutions and the ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner, over concerns he had about alleged rape victim Brittany Higgins.
At a time he believed there was insufficient evidence to prosecute Mr Lehrmann, who has always denied raping Ms Higgins at Parliament House, Detective Superintendent Moller wrote a briefing for his boss.
The document questioned Ms Higgins' credibility and described her as having been "evasive, uncooperative and manipulative" with police.
During his evidence to the inquiry, Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC derided the briefing as a "basic, misguided analysis".
Mr Drumgold also agreed with Walter Sofronoff KC when the inquiry chairman asked if he thought the opinions of investigators were clouded by "rape myths".
Detective Superintendent Moller slammed this suggestion while revealing his personal past on Wednesday, telling the inquiry: "I'm a survivor."
"To be honest, it's offensive when I hear ... about rape myths because I've lived with that," he said.
The experienced investigator also told the inquiry he had been disappointed to hear inferences that police were not working as hard as they could to progress sexual assault cases, saying he and other officers were committed to doing so.
"That's been my ongoing commitment and it'll be my ongoing commitment until I retire," he said.
Since the case against Mr Lehrmann was discontinued last year, following a mistrial caused by juror misconduct, it has emerged that police held reservations about laying a charge but did so on the advice of Mr Drumgold.
On Wednesday, Detective Superintendent Moller defended the work of the investigators who worked on the case with him, saying he was proud because they had "produced a body of work that was exceptional".
"I would say that they had deeply seated views in relation to not having sufficient evidence and, even though they had those views, they pushed forward against their own beliefs," Detective Superintendent Moller said.
"I don't think they lost objectivity because when we decided to go through and charge, that was our direction."
The inquiry has heard evidence at least one member of the investigation team felt physically sick when they were told of the decision to charge Mr Lehrmann.
"They still did it, and they were committed to the process, because that's what we do as police," Detective Superintendent Moller told the inquiry.
"If there's a motor vehicle accident and it's dangerous, we still go there.
"We still do that. Our opinion, in some respects, is not as important as the greater good."
Detective Superintendent Moller's evidence to the inquiry is now complete.
Senior Constable Emma Frizzell is expected to be called as the next witness on Thursday.
