Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins in Parliament House office, Australian judge finds [Video]

Former Australian government adviser Bruce Lehrmann lost his defamation case on Monday after a judge ruled that he had raped his colleague Brittany Higgins in a Parliament House office.

Mr Lehrmann, 28, a staff member in the Scott Morrison government, had sued Australian media company Network 10 for defamation after it aired an interview with Ms Higgins in 2021 without identifying him by name.

The interview sparked nationwide outrage over discrimination and mistreatment of women in politics, especially after Ms Higgins called out Mr Morrison for “victim blaming”.

Mr Lehrmann has denied any wrongdoing.

Justice Michael Lee of Australia‘s federal court dismissed Mr Lehrmann’s defamation suit after Network 10 defended the story as true.

The judge said he found Mr Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins on the lower “balance of probabilities” standard used in civil trials rather than that of “beyond all …