Lehrmann claims he was stalked by Daily Mail journalist
Ethan James |
Former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann has lost an application for an interim restraining order against a Daily Mail journalist he alleges stalked him.
Lehrmann has launched legal action in the Hobart Magistrates Court against Karleigh Smith, a senior reporter at the publication who is based in NSW.
A story with the heading “We found the despised party boy hiding at the end of the Earth” about Lehrmann living in Tasmania was published by Daily Mail Australia on July 1 with Smith’s byline.
He has applied for a restraining order against the reporter, partly on the grounds she stalked him.
The matter has been set down for a hearing in November, with Lehrmann’s application for an interim restraining order rejected by Magistrate Marica Duvnjak on Tuesday.
Lehrmann’s lawyer Zali Burrows told the court Smith and a photographer followed her client in a car, including on a dirt road, “dangerously” and outside the usual course of her profession.
Ms Burrows said the order was sought due to “not just stalking” but also because of impacts on Lehrmann’s mental health which had been exacerbated by the incident.
“Why is a journalist sitting in a car following a person closely behind? That potentially could have caused an accident,” she said.
Smith’s lawyer Nic Edmondson opposed the interim order, noting there was a journalistic exemption under the legal definition of stalking.
“(Smith) has only visited Tasmania once in her life to report and it was on that visit she reported on Mr Lehrmann,” Mr Edmondson said.
She was entitled to follow Lehrmann and take photos and report on him, he said.
“I make a point, he’s well reported in the media,” Mr Edmondson said.
Ms Burrows said an interim order preventing Smith from threatening, harassing or abusing Lehrmann would at least provide him with “some comfort”.
Ms Duvnjak was not satisfied an interim order was appropriate, pointing out Smith had not returned to Tasmania since the story.
Lehrmann has made a report about Smith through “official channels”, Ms Burrows told the court.
Ms Burrows said Lehrmann had suffered psychological harm because Smith had seemingly deliberately engaged a NSW legal firm previously used by him.
This raised “serious conflict concerns” as the firm, Mark O’Brien Legal, had confidential information about Lehrmann such as where he lived in Tasmania, Ms Burrows said.
Lehrmann was not present in court on Tuesday but is expected to give evidence at the slated hearing.
In a separate legal matter, Lehrmann has been accused of stealing a car in Tasmania’s south in November, which he denies.
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