Bruce Lehrmann loses bid to get footage from documentary featuring Brittany Higgins ahead of rape trial

Former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann has lost a legal bid to access copies of all footage from a documentary featuring Brittany Higgins. Lehrmann had subpoenaed the producers of the documentary Silenced and signalled a possible attempt to ban its broadcast before his Queensland trial for rape. Judge Deborah Richards on Monday ruled to set aside Lehrmann’s subpoena for a copy of the documentary, all unused footage and its schedule of distribution, finding the material was not currently relevant to the upcoming trial. “There is no legitimate forensic purpose in this subpoena,” Richards said. Stranger Than Fiction Films, the company behind Silenced, appeared in Queensland district court in Toowoomba on 18 June to respond to Lehrmann’s demands. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email Silenced is a post #MeToo movement documentary that “reveals how defamation laws are weaponised to silence survivors,” according to Stranger Than Fiction Films’ court filings. Stranger Than Fiction Films’ barrister, Dauid Sibtain, had argued against the subpoena in court, saying Silenced did not make reference to Lehrmann’s upcoming trial. “We say it was an abuse of process,” Sibtain previously said. “It lacks a legitimate forensic purpose.” Lehrmann’s solicitor, Zali Burrows, had told Richards she had subpoenaed copies of the film and any “raw unedited b-roll” footage that may be used to promote its release. …