EXCLUSIVE
Bruce Lehrmann landed in Brisbane just hours before appearing in court on two counts of first-time rape.
The former Liberal staffer will appear in Toowoomba Magistrates Court at 9am on Monday over allegations he raped a woman, 29, whom he met at local strip club called ‘The Vault’ in October of 2021.
Just two months earlier, he had been accused of sexually assaulting his former colleague Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in Canberra in 2019.
The woman claimed they had sex once that night and twice in the morning, but claimed the last two times were not consensual because he was not wearing a condom when she thought he was.
He was charged with two counts of rape because not using a condom without your partner’s permission is considered sexual assault under Queensland law.
On Sunday afternoon, Lehrmann was exposed for the first time since his crushing libel defeat in April, when a Federal Court judge found on a civil scale that he had raped Ms Higgins.
Bruce Lehrmann appears, right, with his lawyer Rowan King, centre, at Brisbane Airport on Sunday.
Bruce Lehrmann (right) has not been photographed in public since his failed defamation case in April.
Arriving at Brisbane Airport carrying a small wheeled suitcase and sporting an RM Williams hat and boots, he was greeted by his lawyer Rowan King.
The pair headed straight to the car park before the two-hour drive to Lehrmann’s hometown of Toowoomba, where he will face a half-day committal hearing on Monday.
During the hearing, Lehrmann’s attorneys will question the alleged victim in an effort to determine if there is enough evidence for a magistrate to take the matter to trial.
Lehrmann would only have to plead guilty if the case had been committed, but it is understood he intends to plead not guilty.
The court previously heard the prosecution and defense agree on points of cross-examination. Lehrmann’s team had searched for and received data from the alleged victim’s phone.
Despite being charged with rape in January 2023, Lehrmann has not appeared in person at the Toowoomba court.
Bruce Lehrmann and his lawyer headed to the car park on Sunday before heading to Toowoomba.
When he was first charged, previous legislation said Lehrmann could not be identified because Queensland prohibited the media from publicly identifying alleged sex offenders unless the matter was brought to trial.
Those laws changed in October, which meant Lehrmann could be named and photographed even if the affair had not been committed.
Lehrmann stood trial for the rape of Ms Higgins in the ACT Supreme Court in October 2022, but the case collapsed due to misconduct by a juror.
The charge was then dropped by the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions in December 2022 over fears for Ms Higgins’ mental health.
Last year, Lehrmann launched a defamation case against Network Ten and The Project presenter Lisa Wilkinson over the original interview with Ms Higgins in February 2021, during which she first aired her rape allegations.
Brittany Higgins is pictured (center) with her husband David Sharaz in March.
He was not named in the broadcast, but claimed that friends and colleagues were able to identify him as Higgins’ rapist.
However, the defamation action failed when Judge Michael Lee found, on a balance of probabilities, that Lehrmann had raped Ms Higgins in the way she described during her television interview.
Photographers chased Lehrmann out of the court and along the road to Avoca on the Central Coast before seeking refuge at a police station.
