Bruce Lehrmann‘s cocky attitude towards the justice system can be summed up in a cringeworthy video of him singing ‘I Fought the Law’ last year.
The best-known recording of the song was released by The Clash in 1979 and features the lyrics ‘I needed money ’cause I had none; I fought the law and the law won’.
Footage showed Lehrmann sitting on stool in a kitchen and belting out his own version of the jukebox favourite with a drink in his hand.
‘I fought the law and… Bruce won!’ Lerhmann sang as he tapped his feet and pointed towards the camera.
The clip was apparently filmed on the NSW coast last year and was first made published by The Australian newspaper in November before Lehrmann’s Federal Court case was heard.
Bruce Lehrmann was found on Monday to have raped Brittany Higgins (above) after declaring last year, ‘I fought the law and… Bruce won!’
Having lost his defamation action against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson on Monday, Lehrmann’s ad-libbing seems even more arrogant now.
Lehrmann, 28, unsuccessfully sued over Wilkinson’s interview on The Project with Brittany Higgins in which the former Liberal staffer accused her onetime colleague of raping her in Parliament House in March 2019.
Lehrmann was not named during the February 2021 interview but claimed he could be identified.
He was later charged with raping Ms Higgins, which he has always denied, and his trial was abandoned due to juror misconduct.
Justice Michael Lee, who on Monday found that Lehrmann had raped Ms Higgins on the civil court standard – the balance of probabilities, said that after Lehrmann’s criminal trial ended without a verdict he had made a simple mistake.
‘After escaping the lion’s den, Bruce Lehrmann made the mistake to come back for his hat,’ he said.