Bruce Lehrmann defamation trial LIVE BLOG: Judge’s very pointed comment about Brittany Higgins’ fiancée David Sharaz as Channel 10 lawyer delivers scathing assessment of ‘fundamentally dishonest’ Bruce Lehrmann in closing argument

Bruce Lehrmann said: ‘I don’t want to get into that’ when asked what he was doing at Parliament House at 1.30am on March 23, 2019.

Network Ten barrister Matthew Collins KC began his closing remarks on Thursday by telling Judge Michael Lee that he should be satisfied that the defense of the truth has been successful.

He said: ‘If it is proven to your honor that sexual intercourse took place, what happened here is monstrous. Absolutely monstrous.”

“According to (Brittany) Higgins ‘there is a vivid description of sexual assault, according to Mr Lehrmann there is no sexual activity, consensual or otherwise,’ he said.

‘And that is why your honest assessment of the credibility and reliability of the two protagonists is central.’

He told the court that Mr Lehrmann was ‘not at all interested in providing an honest account of the events of March 22 and 23, 2019’.

Throughout the trial, Mr. Lehrmann was revealed to be “a fundamentally dishonest man,” and he made a number of “outlandish lies,” Dr. Collins argued.

Dr. Collins also argued that Mr Lehrmann had used the ‘court to defend his reputation in relation to a report of an event’ and ‘knowingly provided false evidence in relation to almost every significant integer relating to that event’ .

He explained that Mr Lehrmann’s first instinct when he met with his boss, Fiona Brown, on March 26, 2019 – three days after the alleged assault – was to lie, pointing out that shortly after that meeting, Ms Brown took notes.

When Ms Brown asked what else he did when he entered Parliament House after hours that evening with Ms Higgins, he said: “I don’t want to go into that.”

Dr. Collins also pointed to evidence from their former colleague who told the court she saw Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann passionately kissing in a nightclub just hours before the alleged assault.

“Mr Lehrmann was attracted to Ms Higgins, he asked her out for a drink but they passed by,” Dr Collins said.

“Mr Lehrmann had a girlfriend at home, Ms Higgins has a flatmate, they have access to Parliament House.”