WALTER Sofronoff KC will chair the Board of Inquiry into the conduct of ACT criminal justice agencies involved in the abandoned trial of Bruce Lehrmann.

Former political staffer Lehrmann was accused of rape by fellow Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins at trial late last year. The review was announced in December after the ACT’s director of public prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, subsequently dropped the charges against Lehrmann and claimed police had pressured him to abandon the trial.

Mr Sofronoff, Queensland’s solicitor-general for almost 10 years, is a highly regarded legal expert with experience leading sensitive inquiries throughout his career. 

The inquiry’s terms of reference have also been finalised and, the government says, include:

• whether any police officers, the Director of Public Prosecutions or the Victims of Crime Commissioner failed to act in accordance with their duties or acted in breach of their duties in their conduct during the investigation of the case;
• the circumstances around, and decisions which led to the public release of the ACT Director of Public Prosecutions’ letter to the Chief Police Officer of ACT Policing; and
• any matter reasonably incidental to any of the above matters.

Throughout the inquiry, the Board can hold public or private hearings, subpoena documents and witnesses and issue search warrants. The Board of Inquiry will report to the chief minister by June 30.

The terms of reference are available on the ACT Government’s Justice website. 

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