Author adminPosted on Categories Defamation Leave a comment on Bruce Lehrmann ordered to largely pay indemnity costs
In the saga that never ends, the Honourable Justice Lee handed down his costs judgment after a marathon defamation trial where Bruce Lehrmann lost his defamation claim. His Federal Court of Australia claim was dismissed, because, on the balance of probabilities, it was found that he had raped Brittany Higgins. But the qualified privilege defence failed.
In the words of Justice Lee:
“The result is best characterised as the respondents overcoming a misconceived claim in relation to a broadcast because they were able to prove at trial the substantial truth of what the contemporaneous material demonstrates they considered to be the less substantial allegation made in the broadcast.”
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Author adminPosted on Categories Defamation 2 Comments on Bruce fought the law and the law won
Bruce Lehrmann bragged about how he fought the law and Bruce won. In fact, the law won.
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Author adminPosted on Categories civil litigation Leave a comment on Shane Drumgold SC has partial win in judicial review of adverse findings
Shane Drumgold SC has had a partial win in his application for judicial review after judgment was handed down yesterday.
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Author adminPosted on Categories civil litigation, Judiciary 1 Comment on High Court elects to hear Judge Vasta judicial immunity case
In 2021, Judge Vasta was sued for false imprisonment after he jailed a litigant for contempt when no such finding against him had been made. For Judge Vasta and the state of Queensland, it was contended that the doctrine of judicial immunity meant that the claim could not succeed.
Last year, Wigney J of the Federal Court found for the imprisoned man, holding that judicial immunity did not apply for a number of reasons, including that Judge Vasta was an inferior Court judge who had acted beyond jurisdiction. Unsurprisingly, an appeal was subsequently lodged.
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Author adminPosted on Categories Legal profession, Professional discipline Leave a comment on Sexual harassment solicitor refused practising certificate
Long time readers or this website may recall the saga of sexual pest solicitor Owen Maldwyn Hughes.
Hughes was taken to Court for sexual harassment of a Junior Solicitor and single mum named Catherine Mia Hill, who worked under him in his now defunct firm Beesley & Hughes.
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Author adminPosted on Categories Criminal law 1 Comment on Daniel Keneally given 15-month intensive correction order for fabricating evidence
Constable Daniel Keneally was charged with fabricating evidence in September 2022 after he submitted a report claiming that Luke Moore had threatened to kill a police officer, which resulted in Moore being refused bail and in jail for three weeks.
Moore had fortunately recorded his discussion with Keneally jnr, and that recording showed that Keneally’s report was false. Despite that, pleaded not guilty to fabricating evidence.
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Author adminPosted on Categories Criminal law Leave a comment on Disgraced former cop Roger Rogerson’s final hours
Former NSW detective Roger Rogerson has been moved from prison to the Prince of Wales Hospital in Randwick, Sydney and his life support has been turned off.
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Author adminPosted on Categories Criminal law Leave a comment on “What if I know that my client is guilty?”
What if a lawyer knows that their own client is guilty of the offence(s) for which they have been charged? This is a question that lawyers are often asked, although perhaps surprisingly not often by criminal clients.
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Author adminPosted on Categories Criminal law 2 Comments on High Court majority dismisses Brent Huxley’s appeal for murder of Michael McCabe
A recent High Court decision demonstrates the often highly technical and complex task of crafting directions for a jury which accurately and unambiguously state how the law relates to the case.
On 18 September 2019, Brent Malcolm Huxley was convicted after a trial before Justice North in the Townsville Supreme Court of the murder of Michael James McCabe. He was sentenced to life imprisonment.
McCabe, a known illicit drug user, was murdered on or about 16 August 2015. Police found McCabe’s “partly-skeletonised and partly-mummified” body in remote bushland at the bottom of a steep, rocky embankment in Crystal Creek, north of Townsville, on September 17, 2015.
An autopsy revealed Mr McCabe had multiple fractures to his face, consistent with having a large rock dropped on his head.
Another man named Jason Douglas Taylor was also convicted of McCabe’s murder in a separate trial. Taylor’s appeal against conviction was subsequently dismissed.
The Crown case was that there was a “plan” schemed by Huxley to murder Mr McCabe with the help of others. It was alleged McCabe had been assaulted hours before his death on 15 August 2015 in a unit in Burnda Street, Townsville.
A second co‑accused named Matthew Luke Horima Rewha was charged with the unlawful assault occasioning bodily harm in company of McCabe at the unit on 15 August 2015. A third co‑accused, Leonie Doyle, was Huxley’s girlfriend at the time. She was charged with being an accessory after the fact to the manslaughter of McCabe.
The prosecution alleged that Rewha assaulted McCabe in the unit, and that Huxley subsequently murdered McCabe on 16 August 2015 at Crystal Creek or elsewhere in Queensland.
Hess’ evidence
The primary evidence against Huxley was from Darren Hess, who claimed that Huxley had confessed he had committed the murder to him in August 2015.
Hess gave evidence at the trial that Huxley had “showed up” at his address in Townsville on three occasions in August 2015. On the first visit, Mr Huxley was driving a blue Commodore. On the second visit, Hess asked Mr Huxley “what have you been up to?” and that Mr Huxley replied “the usual stuff” and then said “I done a hit on a bloke for $10,000”. Mr Huxley showed him “how he picked the rock up and dropped it on him and he said the fellow went wahhh – gone”. On the third visit Huxley told him the $10,000 had gone into his cousin’s account.
Hess’ evidence included a demonstration of the action that Mr Huxley showed him with the rock, describing that Mr Huxley “pretended to pick the rock up and dropped it”.
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Author adminPosted on Categories Defamation 2 Comments on Justice Michael Lee says ‘real credit issues’ in Lehrmann defamation trial
It’s the saga about an alleged rape that never ends.
After a jury in a criminal rape trial was aborted after juror misconduct, the subsequent inquiry which revealed prosecutorial misconduct and the resignation of the ACT Director of Prosecutions, we have the sequel to the rape trial.
That sequel is a civil defamation case by Bruce Lehrmann, who was the defendant in the rape trial, brought against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson for an episode on The Project about the alleged rape.
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