Federal Court Justice Michael Lee has dismissed Bruce Lehrmann’s multimillion-dollar defamation case against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson after finding the media parties had established on the balance of probabilities that Lehrmann raped Higgins in Parliament House in March 2019.

Lehrmann, who is unemployed and has said he is studying law, is now expected to be hit with a large costs bill as the unsuccessful party to the litigation.

Lee said as follows:

In summary, I consider it more likely than not in those early hours, after a long night of conviviality and drinking and having successfully brought Ms Higgins back to a secluded place, Mr Lehrmann was hellbent on having sex with a woman he:

a) found sexually attractive;

b) had been mutually passionately kissing and touching;

c) had encouraged to drink, and;

d) knew had reduced inhibitions because she was very drunk.

In his pursuit of gratification, he did not care one way or the other whether Ms Higgins understood or agreed to what was going on.

Because of what I find to be Mr Lehrmann’s state of mind of non-advertent recklessness, the knowledge element has been made out.

The reference above to the “knowledge element” is to the third limb of sexual assault that Ten and Lehrmann needed to prove, namely that Lehrmann was aware that Higgins was not consenting. He said recklessness about Higgins’ consent would also satisfy that requirement.