{"id":67182,"date":"2024-06-17T12:33:09","date_gmt":"2024-06-17T02:33:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=67182"},"modified":"2024-06-17T12:33:15","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T02:33:15","slug":"bruce-lehrmann-faces-committal-hearing-on-two-rape-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=67182","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Lehrmann faces committal hearing on two rape charges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A major twist has emerged in Bruce Lehrmann\u2019s rape committal hearing at Toowoomba, with media booted from the courtroom while the complainant gives evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Lehrmann did not speak to media when entering the courthouse on Monday but was overheard saying \u201cwhere\u2019s Peter Costello when you need him?\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The quip is in reference to Mr Costello allegedly knocking over a journalist from The Australian, which was caught on video, at Canberra Airport earlier this month.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-119-1024x576.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-67183\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-119-1024x576.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-119-300x169.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-119-768x432.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/image-119.jpeg 1280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Former parliamentary staffer Bruce Lehrmann arrives to Toowoomba Magistrates Court in the company of his legal team. Picture: NewsWire \/ John Gass<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s the first time Mr Lehrmann, 29, has fronted the regional courtroom since the charges were laid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An application from media entities to be allowed to report on closed court evidence during the committal has been dismissed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI accept the principle of open justice and acknowledge the high public interest in this case,\u201d magistrate Mark Howden said during his decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cHowever, in the court\u2019s opinion there has not been any basis raised which would shift the position that it would not be prejudicial to the interests of the complainant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe matter ought to proceed in the ordinary way in my opinion.\u201d<br>Mr Lehrmann is facing two charges of rape, with police alleging he raped a woman on two occasions while he was living in his home town in October 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He has not yet entered pleas, but he has indicated he will defend the charges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Except from News Corporation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A major twist has emerged in Bruce Lehrmann\u2019s rape committal hearing after he fronted court for the first time over the alleged 2021 incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":67184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,35],"tags":[9032,7465,8723],"class_list":["post-67182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-australia","category-breaking-news","tag-bruce-lehrmann","tag-queensland","tag-serious-crime"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=67182"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67185,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67182\/revisions\/67185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/67184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=67182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=67182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=67182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}