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ABC News
ABC News
National

Bruce Lehrmann rape trial jury told to 'take all the time' it needs to reach a verdict

The jury in the trial of Bruce Lehrmann will continue its deliberations on Tuesday after being unable to reach a verdict on Monday.

The jury has been considering its decision for three days in the trial of Mr Lehrmann, the man accused of raping his former colleague Brittany Higgins inside a ministerial office at Parliament House in 2019.

Mr Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty to raping Ms Higgins and has denied any sexual intercourse took place.

On Monday morning, the jury reconvened to tell the ACT Supreme Court that it was yet to reach an agreement beyond reasonable doubt and asked Chief Justice Lucy McCallum for guidance about how much longer it could deliberate.

"There's no rush — no time expectation," Justice McCallum said.

Justice McCallum also reminded the jury that if it felt pressure from people who were waiting on a verdict, those people were waiting because they chose to do so.

"You take all the time you need," she said.

When the jury's deliberations began last week, Justice McCallum told jurors not to pay attention to the amount of public interest in the trial.

At 4pm on Monday, the jury went home for the day. Jury members will resume deliberations on Tuesday morning.

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