Federal Court judge Wendy Abraham has reserved her decision on whether Bruce Lehrmann will have to stump up $200,000 in security in his bid to appeal the findings in his defamation case against Network 10 and Lisa Wilkinson.
Lehrmann’s criminal trial was abandoned with no findings against him and he maintains his innocence.
But the judgment in the defamation case found that on the balance of probabilities he raped his colleague Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.
Network 10 is asking for $200,000 in security to cover its legal costs if Lehrmann loses the appeal.
Lehrmann is asking for a stay on the $2 million costs order against him.
His lawyer Zali Burrows told the court demanding the security amounted to bullying, because 10 knew he cannot come up with the money.
The court heard Lehrmann is living on Centrelink benefits and is “arguably Australia’s most hated man … he will forever be labelled a rapist,” Ms Burrows said.
She said he no longer has any options for employment.
“It’s a bit rich (10 and Wilkinson) asking him to put up $200,000 when they are one of the contributors as to why he’s pretty much unemployable,” she told Justice Wendy Abraham.
“The only shot he’d probably ever (have) in making money is going on OnlyFans or something silly like that.”
10’s barrister Matt Collins KC pushed for the $200,000 payment, saying some of Lehrmann’s grounds of appeal were “hopeless” while others were only “faintly arguable”.
It was not in the public interest to allow the case to go to another hearing as it did not involve clarifying the law or undoing a judge’s error.
“The purpose of an appeal is to correct error, not to give someone a second chance at the O.K. Corral,” Dr Collins said.
Wilkinson’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC rejected Lehrmann’s claims he had been blindsided by the way the journalist and 10’s truth defences had been run during the trial.
“His impecuniosity did not deprive him from having his day in court,” Ms Chrysanthou said.
“Why should he get another day in court at the cost of the respondents?”
Bruce Lehrmann did not appear in court yesterday.
National Sexual Assault, Domestic Family Violence Counselling Service at 1800RESPECT (1800 737 732).
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