Brittany Higgins, Bruce Lehrmann inquiry: Astonishing diary note surfaces: ... trends now
A federal police commander wrote a diary note about a meeting with one of his subordinates about Brittany Higgins' rape allegations, where he recorded being told: 'Brittany maintains sexual assault but everything else, doctor... etc was made up'.
The document came to light during a hearing of a Board of Inquiry which is investigating the police and the prosecution's handling of the case against Bruce Lehrmann, after Ms Higgins accused him of sexual assault.
Australian Federal Police Commander Michael Chew was questioned by Erin Longbottom, the counsel assisting the inquiry, on Friday afternoon.
The inquiry was shown a file note Commander Chew wrote on May 26, 2021, following a meeting with Superintendent Scott Moller about the investigation into Mr Lehrmann.
The diary entry featured handwritten scribblings under Superintendent Moller's name - apparently his opinion about part of Ms Higgins' allegations. It provided an insight into what some officers thought about the investigation into Mr Lehrmann.
A Federal police commander wrote a diary note about a meeting with one of his subordinates about Brittany Higgins' rape allegations, where he recorded being told: 'Brittany maintains sexual assault but everything else, doctor... etc was made up'. Ms Higgins is pictured
Australian Federal Police Commander Michael Chew made a note of Superintendent Scott Moller's apparent opinion of Ms Higgins's allegations (above)
Ms Longbottom read a portion of the entry to the inquiry: 'The note says, "Ms Higgins maintains allegations of sexual assault", but then goes on to characterise things to go against her credit.'
She did not read the rest of the note aloud, but the entry was shown to the inquiry. It read: 'Brittany maintains sexual assault but everything else, doctor... etc, was made up'.
Commander Chew was then asked why 'so what' was written in large letters in the middle of the page.
He could only recall that it was in relation to KPIs - corporate jargon for key performance indicators - and had no relation to Supt Moller's opinions.
Twist in 'Zoom call'Earlier at the inquiry, a Channel 10 lawyer who sat with Lisa Wilkinson during her pre-Logies meeting with top prosecutor Shane Drumgold told the inquiry she did not put a Microsoft Teams conversation between the two parties on mute.
Tasha Smithies appeared confident on Friday when she told the inquiry that she did not recall having a private conversation with Wilkinson during their online meeting with the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions on June 15, 2022.
