Lehrmann prosecutor in police union’s sights
The police union has slammed the office of the ACT’s top prosecutor for attempting to smear the Australian Federal Police and ACT Policing over their handling of Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations.
In a statement, Australian Federal Police Association president Alex Caruana said the union “wholeheartedly” supported a judicial inquiry into the trial of the man accused of raping Ms Higgins.
But he said “desperate attempts” to smear the police forces by ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold were untested and the subject of an internal investigation.
Drumgold has called for a public inquiry into “political and police conduct” in the case of former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann.
In a document revealed under freedom of information laws, Drumgold wrote that police had engaged in a campaign to pressure him not to prosecute Lehrmann over Higgins’ allegation.
On Thursday The Guardian reported Drumgold sent a letter to the ACT’s police chief, Neil Gaughan, on November 1 outlining concerns over police conduct.
But Caruana said the union “firmly believes” the ACT DPP compromised Lehrmann’s trial.
He said any inquiry must also assess the conduct of Drumgold, his office, the ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner and ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury.
He also questioned whether the information obtained by The Guardian had been deliberately leaked by Drumgold’s office.
“The FOI from the ACT DPP to The Guardian, to our knowledge, has no redactions, and it includes personal details of officers involved in the investigation,” he said.
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“ACT Policing was not consulted on the release of information and its members’ details.”
ACT Policing said it was aware the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions had released the letter and noted the DPP had requested a public inquiry into the matter.
“As such, it would be inappropriate to provide any further comment in relation to any aspects surrounding this matter including commentary about the letter from the ACT DPP,” a spokesman said on Thursday.
Caruna said the union intended to make a formal complaint to the Australian Information Commission and the ACT Ombudsman about the possible FOI breach and “misconduct by the Director of Public Prosecutions”.
