Jury deliberations are persevering with within the trial for the person accused of raping Brittany Higgins after detailed directions from the chief justice overseeing the case.
A jury of eight girls and 4 males will resolve a verdict within the prison trial of Bruce Lehrmann, charged with sexual activity with out consent.
He has pleaded not responsible and has confronted an virtually three-week lengthy trial within the ACT Supreme Court docket.
Higgins alleges Lehrmann raped her inside a ministerial workplace in Parliament Home after the pair went out ingesting with colleagues.
Lehrmann denies any sexual interplay happened.
Chief Justice Lucy McCallum supplied detailed directions to the jury earlier than they started their deliberations on Wednesday afternoon.
She reminded jurors that Lehrmann was presumed harmless until or till his guilt is confirmed by the prosecution past an affordable doubt.
She advised the jury it should act impartially, with out emotion or prejudice and provides a real verdict based on the proof offered within the courtroom up to now three weeks.
"You aren't answerable to standard opinion ... whichever method it's possible you'll assume it sways," she stated.
"Your verdict, whether or not or not it's responsible or not responsible, should be unanimous."
The chief justice summed up the prosecution and defence instances and stated it was as much as the jury to resolve which proof they did and didn't settle for.
However she warned them to not invoke any stereotypes they might maintain about an occasion or scenario they haven't skilled personally, saying there was "no template" for all times.
"Watch out about hypothesis and pre-conception ... watch out to not make assumptions about how an individual could behave in circumstances you haven't skilled," she stated.
Lehrmann exercised his proper to silence and didn't enter the witness field throughout the trial. The jury was as a substitute performed his police interview.
Chief Justice McCallum stated his determination to not give proof in court docket couldn't be used as an act of contrition and didn't strengthen the prosecution's case.
She additionally stated Lehrmann's settlement to do a police interview didn't shift the burden of proof to him.
The jurors will proceed deliberations till they'll attain a unanimous verdict.
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