In this week’s devastating findings by Justice Paul Tottle of the Supreme Court of Western Australia, the judge found that Brittany Higgins had exaggerated and embellished aspects of her story when speaking to the media, critical elements of her narrative did not correspond with reality, others were misleading, dishonest, speculative, driven by malice or simply untrue. She had indeed defamed Linda Reynolds in the long running Higgins/Lehrmann legal jumble.
The crippling verdict has shredded her credibility, threatens her $2.4m commonwealth compensation payment and could send her into bankruptcy, as Paul Garvey writes in The Australian today (29/8/2025). Not the best profile for a newcomer to a proposed public relations career…
On another page, legal affairs contributor Chris Merritt writes: “It is worth considering what course this affair might have taken had everyone involved adopted the principle that accusations of criminal wrongdoing should be prosecuted by the justice system, not the media.
“By discarding that principle, significant parts of the mainstream media seemed utterly unaware of their limitations. They retailed falsehoods and presented it as news.”
Earlier in August, the Federal court heard Bruce Lehrmann’s appeal over the loss of his defamation suit against Network TEN and Lisa Wilkinson; the judges have reserved their decisions.
Hi Andrew, Me again ! I’ve heard Many people over many years making judgements of other people , with no knowledge or little knowledge of how courts and Police colluded to achieve a conviction. For that , i once apologised to Lindy Chamberlain , to Gordon Woods and others. Publicly but in their absence . I was stupid enough to offer an opinion , thereby breaking the rules i have established , that simply said “judge not lest ye be judged ” I needed to say that because i have seen in the faces of complete ignorance, judgement of me.
Little knowledge is a dangerous thing. ! I have lost it all ! by bad Judgement. You know i was convicted of doing something in a room that did not exist and at a time when my accuser was not with me. That was accepted by the prosecution because they changed the circumstances of my action from impossible to ‘ it could have happened in other circumstances’.
In other words statements given to police had gaping holes , so evidence was changed to theorising !” MY lawyer did not object ????????
I hope that the new route to exoneration works for me , because the appeal system , made sure their door was slammed in my face. Yet …. Anomalies of inexplicable nature are in the text of the case against me , and in the text that police ignored and then
sent it on to DPP without comment. You don’t need evidence to get a conviction , you just need to convince a Jury that someone is guilty because the case needed to be resolved. I spent 18 months in Prison ,Before that , I spent 3 years waiting to hear whether the matter would go to trial . Since my release i’ve spent 11 years reporting to police , having my travel restricted and other freedoms have disappeared. The Judge said of me. It’s strange , the accused has lived an exemplary life for 37 years before the incidents and the 25 years after the alleged events . ”
He must have had a brain Snap ”
Or perhaps dear Judge , Police and DPP i may be innocent of all the charges !!
If so , try and think of what you’ve done to an innocent person . You’ve ruined my life and reputation . You’ve greatly hurt my wife , the complainants mother ,and you’ve Hurt my twins to the core .
Congratulations Nsw Justice system …. You won ! 17 years of my life has been lost . I ‘ll always remain proud of my behaviour. Im not perfect , but i’ve never hurt a child or treated a woman badly . I certainly maintain that as my aim in life . I’ve saved 4 lives , i raised $millions to help charities and more importantly i’ve given of myself and of my time ,.. I’m proud of the person i am ., and i’m ashamed of all who have used a period in history to convict the innocent, then slammed all doors shut so that what they’ve done is not exposed .
ASK Folbigg, Neale Fraser , Woods , Keogh , Chamberlain what it’s meant to have had sufficient support , that it eventually brought forth the truth . No one in our justice system it seems ,seeks the truth or justice. They seek to win. Your position of power is your illegal steroids !! can anyone imagine how many poor bastards have been victims of our system. And yes i forgot ! George Pell now deceased , was convicted then lost his appeal , then with the intervention of the dissenting Judge , the impossibility of the claims against him were exposed and he was released from jail.
I hope the fraud against me is exposed and that the perpetrators find some quality time in the same prison to which they have sent so many people .PV
Lest anyone think PV is just a disgruntled victim of a wrongful conviction …
Alan Hirsch, later Professor of Legal Studies at Williams College, Massachusetts, as legend has it, snapped at a student: ‘If it’s justice you want, go to divinity school.’”
The Sydney Morning Herald (7 September 2006) reported: ‘LawCover, an Australian insurer reported a disturbingly high number of lawyers with depression, stress, alcohol dependency, and gambling addiction.’ In 2006, a survey of 7,000 professionals by Beaton Consulting found lawyers were the second unhappiest [behind patent attorneys] of all occupations.
“The legal trade, in short, is nothing but a high-class racket.” Professor Fred Rodell, of Yale Law School, in Woe Unto You, Lawyers! (1939).
There is more: a selection of extracts from the late Evan Whitton’s infinitely researched and damning work, Our Corrupt Legal System (Book Pal, 2009).
https://wrongfulconvictionsreport.org/2018/01/13/bare-faced-lawyers-confessions-of-the-legal-profession/
Prior to ascending to the bench in WA, our legal counsel told us “there is no such thing as justice”. But because he shut up while working within the sewerage system of the Western Australian Justice System he has been rewarded with a job for life -with a Judgeship Kingdom😵💫
I hear you loud and clear.
My partner has been wrongfully convicted for a murder he did not commit.
The system is so corrupt and they dont care how many lives get ruined.
I wish I could find the intellectual words that this news inspires, all that comes to mind is liar, liar pants on fire.
But hadn’t Reynolds defamed Higgins, a rape victim, by calling her a “lying cow”? You seem to be blaming the victim.
That was dealt with. Linda Reynolds has agreed a settlement with Brittany Higgins and apologised for calling the alleged rape victim a “lying cow”.Higgins has confirmed money agreed as part of the settlement, over and above covering her legal costs. And of course now with Reynolds winning the defamation case against Higgins might alter how that ‘slur’ is seen, eh?
“The apology was not an admission that she had in fact mishandled the matter or failed to offer appropriate support to the defendant (Brittany Higgins),’’ Senator Reynolds’ statement of claim states.
“(Her) comment was a spontaneous private reaction to the defendant’s false accusation.”
Also my understanding is what Reynolds said, was said in private, unlike Higgins/Shiraz who blasted it all over social media😵💫
Andrew. Who is a professional – or what is a profession? Performing a failed hip operation on an 80 year with lots of money and some early signs of demented optimism ?
The grease monkey mechanic , technician – who cannot exterminate the elusive noise in your German
panzercampfwagen ?
Appeals Court judges who have progressed through that sickening system to reach their new dizzying heights of power –
then expect respect for their wise words? Should we then express satisfaction with this latest example here – because it happens to please some of us – personally. I’m somewhat sceptical of all that it is emitted from the legal sewerage system.
Even when the “verdict” suits me..since I know from whence it came.