In a last-minute twist in the rape trial of Bruce Lehrmann, the jury has been discharged after misconduct.
Lehrmann was accused of raping Australian political staffer Brittany Higgins in a minister's office at Parliament House in Canberra in 2019.
He has pleaded not guilty and denied any sexual intercourse took place.
The call to discharge the jury was made after a juror brought research material into the deliberation room at the ACT Supreme Court.
They’d accessed information online that was unrelated to the research presented in the trial, which is a breach of the rules.
Suspicion arose after a research paper was found by a security officer.
The material was discovered during routine tidying.
The paper related to the "unhelpfulness of trying to quantify" how often false rape accusations were made.
It now means a mistrial has been declared, and the case has been abandoned for now.
According to the Guardian, Chief Justice Lucy McCallum told the jury: “It has come to my attention that one of you, contrary to directions, has undertaken research in relation to issues in the case and that material has entered the jury room that ought not to have,” she said.
“I have heard an explanation and it may be that no harm has been done, but that is not a risk that I can take. In the circumstances, I have discharged that juror and I have to discharge you all.”
The latest development comes after five days of deliberations, with jurors repeatedly telling the Chief Justice that they were struggling to reach a unanimous verdict.
When Higgins went public with her story in 2021, she triggered a wider movement Australia and lifted the lid on the culture at Federal Parliament.
It would be a topic that would dog Scott Morrison's unsuccessful re-election campaign.
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