I have to laugh at the audacity of David Shiraz, he is still trying to call Linda Reynolds out knowing full well that there was no government cover-up after the rape of Brittany Higgins. Justice Michael Lee has delivered his verdict in the Bruce Lehrmann v Network Ten defamation case and the outcomes were well considered and reviewed by Justice Lee.

Bruce Lehrmann got a startling shock, he lost the defamation case to the Ten Network. Justice Lee described Lehrmann as ‘having escaped the lions’ den, Mr Lehrmann made the mistake of going back for his hat.” Justice Lee stated Mr Lehrmann, on the basis of probability, raped Ms Higgins, but not beyond all reasonable doubt, as is the case in most criminal proceedings. Still, this was a very decisive statement as Justice Lee believes Bruce Lehrmann raped Brittany Higgins after disentangling the web of lies. Only political staffer Fiona Brown walks away from mess with her reputation intact, to a lesser extent Linda Reynolds escapes criticism as well.

Brittany Higgins came in for some attention in Justice Lee’s verdict. Higgins was an unsatisfactory witness, she lied under oath. The first, he stated were understandable; she was a young person processing a traumatic experience, and potentially trying to conceal embarrassing elements of her own behaviour. Justice Lee went on, Higgins “made some allegations that made her a heroine to one group of partisans.” However, “when examined forensically those allegations have undermined her general credibility to a disinterested factfinder” – ouch.

Justice Lee isolated a second group of untruths, those were deliberate untruths regarding the alleged cover-up Higgins promoted in The Project interview. Those allegations [untruths] were later aired in court and after a forensic examination by Justice Lee were found to be fundamentally untrue. However, there was a caveat as Justice Lee believed they were in a different category as given the potential trauma of an alleged rape as consistent with a victim of sexual assault working her way through feelings of confusion.

Justice Lee was savage of the conduct of David Sharaz, the political cover story that was hatched and pitched to The Project was absolutely untrue. Network Ten was negligent in their conduct to correctly investigate the claims. The Project team had strong indications of the unreliability from the main source particularly after losing the majority of her phone material but selected material central to her claims amazingly survived. This all occurred with the insertion of David Sharaz into the proceedings.

David Sharaz was a key player in the formulation of the political cover-up narrative. Despite never taking the stand, David Sharaz was referenced 111 times in court proceedings. It is clear David Sharaz is a Labor Party lackey, Justice Lee even stated Lisa Wilkinson and the Ten Network were willfully blind to David Sharaz’s motivations. So now the political cover-up has been blown to shreds, neither Brittany Higgins or David Sharaz can claim Linda Reynolds and Fiona brown engaged in a political cover-up. There is no agree to disagree, the claims are proven to be untrue and are either withdrawn or legal proceedings to prove David Sharaz and Brittany Higgins defamed Linda Reynolds.