‘Key words missing’: Lehrmann’s legal team seeks IT expert for complainant’s phone

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Bruce Lehrmann’s legal team is seeking to have an independent forensic IT expert examine the complainant’s phone in his Queensland rape case, amid claims a police hard drive was destroyed and key words were missing.

Lehrmann was committed to stand trial in 2024 over allegations he raped a woman on a drug-fuelled night in 2021 at a nightclub in Toowoomba, west of Brisbane.

He is expected to fight the charges.

Bruce Lehrmann outside the Magistrates Court in Toowoomba in a previous appearance.

Lehrmann’s legal team earlier this year made an application to have the case thrown out of court.

Defence lawyer Zali Burrows previously told the court a police hard drive that contained a full brief of evidence, copies of witness statements, phone downloads, and video and digital recordings was destroyed.

She claimed the officer in charge of the investigation had lost material stored on a personal hard drive because of a malfunction.

In a hearing on Monday in the Ipswich District Court, Burrows said there had been two Cellebrite reports – a digital forensic report generated from a device’s data – and extractions of the complainant’s phone.

She said the first report had been lost in the hard drive malfunction.

“Then there was a subsequent extraction and Cellebrite created for the second time, which appears between the first extraction and second extraction there are some key words missing, which is evident from what was on the statement of facts and also on the affidavit,” she said.

Burrows said an application was before another judge at present relating to the second Cellebrite report to be unredacted.

She said it had not been determined yet because the prosecution’s copy of the second extraction report was not able to be provided to the court, and that the matter was relevant to the stay application.

Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Caroline Marco told the court the Crown would receive another copy of the download on Monday.

However, she said Burrows had not complied with previous orders of Judge Dennis Lynch, and therefore they could not comply.

Lynch replied: “As is obvious, but that doesn’t surprise me.”

Burrows told the court she was also seeking for an independent forensic IT expert to have the opportunity to do a new extraction from the complainant’s phone under the supervision of police.

Marco said the prosecution would resist that.

Lynch said: “It seems to be premature in any event. There’s proceeding under foot in respect of what has been downloaded and I think it needs to await the result of that.”

He adjourned the matter to November 17.

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