The Brittany Higgins rape trial was a witch hunt, driven by Lisa Wilkinson’s ego, she knew what she was doing and obliterated the presumption of innocence with the distinction between an untested allegation and proven fact of guilt lost. Whilst Lisa Wilkinson and other journalists were presenting themselves for awards, this trial by media almost broke the Australian justice system.

What interested me the most is the presumption of innocence until proven guilty in a court of law, due process, and the right to cross examine evidence was all dismissed in the media coverage driven by the #MeToo movement. Britrany Higgins chose to become the face of the #MeToo movement in Australia. The rule of law was nearly thrown away in Australia with the onus of proof on the prosecution almost dismissed.

So when Lisa Wilkinson got up and gave her Brittany Higgins speech at the Logie Awards Ceremony, she not only delayed the trial by three months, she gave the Bruce Lehrmann defence team precious time to reevaluate their defence strategy. Lisa Wilkinson was so arrogant, she believed she could influence the jury through her high profile TV presenter role without prejudicing the prosecution case just a week before the trial.

However, Chief Justice Lucy McCallum thought differently and delayed the high-profile trial. In the Australian Capital Territory, there is no provision for a judge only trial where the judge purely interprets the law based on the presented evidence, Wilkinson’s speech was aimed at potential jurors. What Wilkinson did was save Lehrmann, there was a very high chance he would have been convicted at what was considered just a formality the prosecution was forced to endure.

Not that it was needed, a mistrial was declared when a jury member clearly unimpressed by Brittany Higgins’ sworn testimony brought in research material to the jury room questioning the witness allegations. A court clerk found the unauthorised materials and the case was over, they had to go through the whole process again with a new jury. The material was based on a trial witness making false allegations, the jury did not believe her story.

In what was the biggest sensation, Brittany Higgins herself gave a press conference outside the court in a clear breach of protocol. Her statement was damning, I recall listening to her statement live at work and knew straight away this was going to be big. This was a high profile case before a jury where a prejudiced effort had been made to sway the jury and then another ill advised press conference undermined the rule of law, due process and the opportunity of a fair trial.