Bruce Lehrmann is not guilty of stealing four -wheel drive in Tasmania

Former Liberal Employee Bruce Lehrmann has not guilty of stealing a four-wheel drive after his lawyer had expressed contempt for judicial concern about a media interview.

It is claimed that Lehrmann took a Toyota Prado from Mountain River, a rural area in southern Tasmania on 20 November.

Lehrmann and his lawyer, Zali Burrows, appeared on Thursday via telephone in Hobart Magistrates Court.

According to judicial documents, the accusation of stealing motor vehicles was established by Gail Denise Oates against Lehrmann.

Burrows told the court that she is considering requesting a stay of proceedings, claiming that Oates Sub-Judge had committed contempt by the court by doing a media interview that presented another report of events than her official statement.

She also had ‘concern’ about a police statement by Oates in which the name of the person accused of stealing the car was edited.

“The police wrongly edited the statement. I don’t know why this is such a national secret,” said Burrows.

Public Prosecutor Bunewat Keo noted that Oates had not made any further contact with media and Burrows had received all the information about the Case file.

Magistrate Reg Marron said that entering a plea would cause the release of more information to Burrows and that the editors could be discussed at a later date.

The case was “somehow” to a hearing, he said.

Burrows said that Lehrmann was happy to introduce a plea of ​​not guilty, so the case was not delayed.

A hearing would probably last three days, the court was told.

The bail of Lehrmann was continued, whereby the case came to court on September 19.

Lehrmann did not answer the first phone call from the court and led to a reprimand from Marron, who said Burrows “should ensure that he is on the line”.

“We have a room full of people who are ready to go,” he said.

In recent years, Lehrmann has been the subject of various judicial affairs in Australia.

His trial due to alleged rape of the then Collague Brittany Higgins in the Parliament House of Canberra in 2019 was abandoned in 2022 due to misconduct of the jury member.

Lehrmann has always denied the allegations and has appealed against a defamation from the federal court that is determined about the balance of the likes he has raped Higgins. That decision is excellent.