A former Seven producer who alleges he saw Bruce Lehrmann buying cocaine and ordering sex workers will continue giving evidence to a court.
Taylor Auerbach will resume his Federal Court testimony today in a defamation lawsuit brought by ex-Liberal staffer Lehrmann against Network 10 and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over an interview with alleged rape victim Brittany Higgins.
When called as a witness on Thursday, Auerbach claimed he was tasked to babysit Lehrmann, 28, and court him for an interview with Seven’s Spotlight program.
Auerbach told the court that on one occasion in early 2023 he and Lehrmann had dined together at an upmarket Potts Point restaurant in Sydney’s east before going to a hotel room in the city.
“Channel Seven had put Bruce up at the Meriton for what he described as a ‘coming down to Sydney to unwind’ kind of trip,” Auerbach added.
The court heard when the pair returned to the hotel suite, Lehrmann produced a bag of cocaine, which he purchased during dinner, and began searching the internet for sex workers.
Auerbach said he was concerned by Lehrmann’s behaviour, texting his boss at the time Steve Jackson, that the prospective interviewee was, “on the warpath”.
“I think I used the words, ‘this is f—–‘,” he told the court.
Justice Michael Lee had been poised to deliver his final judgment on the defamation action, but postponed giving his ruling after Auerbach’s claims came to light.
Auerbach also told the court Lehrmann leaked confidential text messages from Higgins’ mobile to Seven, in breach of what is known as the Harman undertaking.
Auerbach said he received photographs of text messages between Higgins and her former boyfriend from a police document known as the Cellebrite report.
Lehrmann, he told the court, had access to the private and personal texts through an earlier, abandoned criminal case against him, but the material was not tendered into evidence.
The Harman undertaking holds that untendered evidence from an abandoned criminal case cannot be used for other purposes.
Auerbach alleged that in the photographs he could see the reflection of Spotlight executive producer Mark Llewellyn, identifiable by his “bald head” and “glasses”.
Lawyer for Lehrmann, Matthew Richardson SC, put to Auerbach that he was being untruthful in his account, which the former Seven producer denied.
“I want to suggest to you … that you are here today to do as much damage to your former employer and former colleagues as you possibly can,” Richardson said.
