Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has suffered a legal defeat in the first of multiple court battles aimed at halting a rape trial against him.
Lehrmann’s Sydney-based solicitor Zali Burrows on Friday took aim at Queensland Police after withdrawing a bid to prove officers had illegally recorded two conversations between Lehrmann and his previous legal team.
Ms Burrows had also been seeking a court injunction to prevent Queensland Police from recording any future conversations with any of Lehrmann’s legal representatives.
Lehrmann, 30, appeared by phone on Friday when the matter was heard at Toowoomba District Court.
Judge Benedict Power dismissed the application after the claims were withdrawn by Ms Burrows, who conceded her entire case would depend on proving officers had broken the law in Queensland.
Outside court, Ms Burrows told reporters she would never again speak to a Queensland Police officer on the phone.
“All I can say is that it’s another world in the state of Queensland,” she said.
Ms Burrows’ application was part of a wider bid to seek a permanent stay on proceedings which, if granted, would halt a pending trial against Lehrmann on two counts of rape.
Lehrmann, who is on bail, is accused of raping a woman twice during the morning of October 10, 2021 after they met at a strip club the previous night in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.
The former ministerial staffer to Liberal senator Linda Reynolds was charged in January 2023 and is yet to formally enter a plea.
But his former solicitor had previously told a magistrate he intended to contest the charges.
Ms Burrows on Friday agreed with Judge Power’s contention that the officers might have followed proper procedure for keeping accurate notes during the early stages of an investigation.
“You need to establish as a matter of law that what (the investigating detective) did was unlawful,” Judge Power said.
Ms Burrows said police would have an “unfair tactical advantage” if they had a recording of any conversation where a lawyer accidentally disclosed legally confidential material.
Judge Power said that would not be the fault of police and any of Lehrmann’s solicitors could make a separate claim if there was confidential material.
Crown prosecutor Caroline Marco was not required to argue in court against Ms Burrows except to agree with Judge Power’s proposed order to dismiss.
She told Judge Power the application to halt the trial could only be heard once all other applications were dealt with.
Judge Power told the lawyers they needed to be in a position by July 31 to nominate a date for when the trial might begin.
Ms Burrows told Judge Power that while Lehrmann’s previous solicitor had indicated he would make an application for a judge-only trial, her client no longer had a position on whether any trial should be heard by a jury.
The matter will return to court for an August 28 hearing concerning Ms Burrows’ efforts to subpoena the Commissioner of Queensland Police for access to all materials involved in the case.
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