AFP withholding evidence from inquiry into Lehrmann rape trial

The Australian Federal Police is withholding evidence used by local investigators to prosecute former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann from an inquiry into the abandoned rape trial.

The ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, who himself has been the target of allegations by Lehrmann, has also foreshadowed holding back documents subpoenaed by inquiry head Walter Sofronoff KC due to legal privilege.

A preliminary hearing before the ACT Magistrates’ Court on Thursday heard the inquiry had sought the brief of evidence against Lehrmann, as well as a large cache of CCTV footage obtained by ACT Policing – an arm of the Australian Federal Police – but it was yet to be delivered, impeding Sofronoff from doing his job.

Sofronoff, a former Queensland Supreme Court judge, grilled the AFP’s barrister Katherine Richardson SC on his ability to conduct the probe into the high-profile trial after receiving letters from the Australian Government Solicitor’s office saying certain, undisclosed laws prohibited the force from providing the information.

“I have to finish this inquiry by June 30, and I can’t if I don’t know when crucial documents are coming,” Sofronoff said. “I have to have what Mr Drumgold had, and I have to have what the AFP had … frankly, I don’t see the difficulty in producing it.”

The AFP has said that it will cooperate with the inquiry but isn’t legally bound to produce any documents sought because it is a federal entity that isn’t subject to the territory’s powers. But Sofronoff questioned how the AFP could claim it was co-operating if it didn’t specify the laws prohibiting the handover of documents.

Richardson said the AFP didn’t want to “swamp” the inquiry with the more than 100 gigabytes of footage related to the case and agreed to provide the legal reasons for withholding material by a date next month.

Ian Denham, acting for Drumgold, said although his client was compelled to hand over documents relating to the prosecution, legal privilege may prevent him from delivering everything. He agreed to identify documents that came under privilege.