A senior police officer who investigated Brittany Higgins’ rape allegation will face the independent inquiry into how the justice system responded to her case.
The inquiry was set up by the ACT government after accusations by police and prosecutors about each other’s conduct during the high-profile investigation and trial.
Australian Federal Police Detective Superintendent Scott Moller will front the inquiry today. Moller was involved in investigating Higgins’ allegation her former colleague, Bruce Lehrmann, raped her after a night out in 2019, inside the Parliament House office of then-Coalition minister Linda Reynolds.
Lehrmann denies the allegation and faced a trial in the ACT Supreme Court. Juror misconduct meant a verdict was not reached and prosecutors later dropped charges against Lehrmann due to fears about the impact of a second trial on Higgins’ mental health.
Moller will give evidence after the ACT chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold told the inquiry police had a “passion” for the case against Lehrmann to fail. Drumgold accused senior police officers involved in the case of having a “skills deficit” and believed they had lost their objectivity during the investigation.
He also said there were tensions between his office and police about the credibility of Higgins but he believed many of the points raised by officers were not admissible in court.
But Lehrmann’s defence lawyer, Steven Whybrow, disagreed with Drumgold’s assessment of police behaviour and claimed it was the prosecutor’s office who had been hostile towards police. Whybrow said he did not believe police had undermined the case and rather “looked at everything” whether it suited Higgins’ or Lehrmann’s account.
Senior Constable Emma Frizzell and AFP Commander Michael Chew are expected to give evidence at the inquiry later in the week.
