A Canberra man has been charged after allegedly leaving menacing voicemails for lawyer Zali Burrows, who is representing Bruce Lehrmann. The messages reportedly contained offensive language, including calling her derogatory names.
According to ACT Police, the 43-year-old suspect from Bonython was taken into custody on Saturday night. Authorities have identified him as Christopher James Richards, who also goes by Chris Morrd Richards.
Richards faces charges related to the Commonwealth offence of using a carriage service to menace or harass. He is scheduled to appear in the ACT Magistrates Court on Monday.
This arrest follows a recent court appearance by Richards just two weeks earlier, where he was granted bail in a separate case involving alleged threats against a Victorian federal senator.
Police claim that Richards placed three threatening voicemail calls in August to Ms. Burrows while she was involved in representing Lehrmann in the Federal Court, leaving her feeling alarmed and distressed.
Police will allege Richards made three aggressive voicemail calls to a terrified Ms Burrows in August while she was representing Lehrmann in the Federal Court.
Ms Burrows received the chilling messages from an unidentified male caller – suggesting she ‘suck it up’ if she ever became the victim of sexual assault – just as she was launching Lehrmann’s appeal against his loss in the Brittany Higgins defamation case.
The first of the recordings, which the Daily Mail is publishing with Ms Burrows’ consent, was left on her voicemail on the second day of her appeal submissions on Lehrmann’s behalf to the full bench of the Federal Court.
When she checked the voicemail left from a private number on the morning of August 21, Ms Burrows heard a male voice unleash a torrent of abuse which appeared to refer to Lehrmann as well, saying: ‘I’m just non-threateningly abusing you just like people get non-violently raped.
‘If any of that is a problem, maybe you shouldn’t be a bunch of evil pieces of s**t. See you in hell, you mother*****s.’
Police have arrested a 43-year-old man who allegedly left vile voicemail messages on the phone of lawyer Zali Burrows (left) over her appeal for Bruce Lehrmann (right) in the Brittany Higgins defamation case
Zali Burrows found three abusive messages on her phone left during her appeal for Bruce Lehrmann in the Federal Court, left by an unidentified caller ACT Police now allege is Christopher James Richards
Police have charged Chris Morrd Richards with a Commonwealth offence of using a carriage service to menace or harass
The references to ‘non-threatening’ abuse and ‘non-violent rape’ were arguments Ms Burrows had made on the previous day of the appeal, when she told the court a judge found Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins in a way that was not violent.
The three appeal judges questioned the lawyer over her use of the terms ‘softer rape’ and ‘non-violent rape’, with Justice Craig Colvin saying the latter was a concept he did not ‘understand’.
In the message left on Ms Burrows’ phone, the caller said: ‘Now it’s a soft rape? You have any idea what your words do to victims of violent rape? Because all rape is violent.’
A second voicemail was left shortly after the first, and referred to Bruce Lehrmann as Ms Burrows’ ‘boss’.
It said: ‘Next time a man makes you feel uncomfortable, don’t worry – worst case in life, you might get non-violently raped every now and again, but hey, that’s no big deal according to your boss so why worry?
‘I mean, what’s a bit of non-violent rape after all? You know? Just suck it up, what’s the problem? You’re evil f*****g people and you know it.’
Ms Burrows felt shaken and terrified by the messages, but later said she had tried to forget about it as she powered through the day.
But by the evening of August 21, she had a third message. The caller appeared furious about her use of the term ‘softer rape’ in court that day.
Bruce Lehrmann and Zali Burrows in a Hobart wine bar earlier this year when she was representing him in a matter unrelated to his Federal Court appeal
‘You’re a disgusting person,’ the message began. ‘Someone should sock punch you in the f*****g face. You’re a f****g f****d up, evil, twisted f*****g bitch, you stupid blonde f*****g rape-loving c**t.’
Lehrmann has since spoken about the calls, and their effect on his legal counsel as Ms Burrows did her job of defending him, ‘regardless of any allegations or convictions against’ him.
‘This is devastating, deeply concerning as it is ignorant of the role of a legal advocate,’ he said.
‘No lawyer, whoever they act for, should be subject to intimidation and threats. They act on the instruction of clients.
‘Zali has courageously defended me when many others refused. She has taken on my cases with a deep sense of duty and commitment to the rule of law.’
He described Ms Burrows as someone with ‘guts’ and ‘fight’ to run an appeal as a sole practitioner before the Federal Court, and said Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson’s barristers Matthew Collins and Sue Chrysanthou should also be respected for the ‘challenging and often thankless job they undertake’.
Lehrmann accompanied Ms Burrows to a police station to report the messages.
Chris Morrd Richards is an activist who says he represents ‘the oppressed, the marginalised, the mistreated, the misunderstood’.
The Federal Court justices have reserved their decision on Lehrmann’s appeal to be delivered at a later date.
