Bruce Lehrmann, the man accused of raping former employee Brittany Higgins in the House of Parliament, is trying to reverse his trial because his lawyer can no longer appear and Legal Aid cannot find another lawyer in a short time.
ACT Supreme Court President Lucy McCallum said Tuesday that evidence presented by lawyers acting for Lehrmann on her search for a replacement lawyer was not sufficient reason to set aside the date of the trial, which will begin on Monday.
Former Liberal staff member Bruce Lehrmann will be tried in June.
But he has postponed a final decision on the matter until Thursday, indicating that it may be possible to start the trial up to fifteen days later than the original June 6 date.
Lehrmann has been charged with non-consensual sex, a complaint of which he has pleaded not guilty.
Legal Aid lawyer Tamzin Lee told the court that “realistically, finding a lawyer to start on June 6 has been incredibly difficult.” In addition, Legal Aid was effectively “starting anew in terms of defendant representation” after taking over Lehrmann’s case.
The trial is set for six weeks from Monday, however, prosecutor Shane Drumgold said it could be held for just four weeks.
“We accept that the lawyer is not available for reasons that are beyond anyone’s control,” Drumgold told the court.
McCallum gave Lehrmann’s lawyers 48 hours to provide more information about their attempts to find a lawyer for the trial.
“This issue has been listed for a long time,” he said, noting that sexual assault trials took precedence, but there was no more four-week trial time available this year.