Bruce Lehrmann, a former staffer for the Liberal party, is requesting a forensic analysis of a woman’s phone, as he faces accusations of raping her, citing inconsistencies in the prosecution’s evidence.
Lehrmann’s lawyer, Zali Burrows, informed Judge Dennis Lynch that two separate data extractions from the alleged victim’s phone have resulted in differing reports.
“Key words that were present in the initial statement of facts are missing in the second data extraction,” Burrows explained.
The court was told that a second phone data extraction was necessary because a detective’s hard drive containing the first copy failed.
Lehrmann, who is currently out on bail and has yet to officially enter a plea, faces allegations of raping the woman twice on the morning of October 10, 2021.
The two reportedly met the night before at a strip club located in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.
Lehrmann previously indicated he would contest the charges.
Burrows said she had applied before another judge to force police to provide an “unredacted” second report, but she had been told there was a problem with accessing the original encrypted data.
“If this data is lost all over again we would like to address it in our stay application,” she said.
“We would like our own, independent forensic IT expert to have an opportunity to do a brand-new extraction of the phone, which would obviously be monitored and supervised by police.”
A copy of the phone data would be obtained today and should be provided before the end of the week, prosecutor Caroline Marco said.
“Unfortunately the delay was that our investigating officer was on leave,” Marco said.
She said prosecutors would resist an application for an independent expert to download data from the alleged victim’s phone.
Judge Lynch said he would wait for the second report on the phone before considering any such application.
Lehrmann’s bail was continued and the case was adjourned until November 17.
Support is available by calling 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 or National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028.
