A prosecutor angrily confronted a bewildered barrister via text message, demanding to know who was behind the "outrageous" leaking of sensitive documents.
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"I asked you a question," Skye Jerome wrote to Bruce Lehrmann's barrister, Steven Whybrow SC, after The Australian quoted previously confidential police documents.
The December 2022 messages are reproduced in exhibits that have been tendered to an independent inquiry, which is examining the conduct of authorities in Mr Lehrmann's case.
They were sent on a Saturday morning in December 2022, the day after ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold discontinued the case against Mr Lehrmann.
Mr Lehrmann has always denied raping Brittany Higgins at Parliament House when the pair were Liberal Party staffers, and there have been no findings made against him.
The first public revelations of the strained relationship between police and prosecutors working on the case came when The Australian obtained documents that outlined the concerns investigators held about the strength of the evidence and Ms Higgins' credibility.
Ms Jerome, who appeared as junior counsel for the prosecution at Mr Lehrmann's trial, contacted Mr Whybrow within an hour of the newspaper publishing its article online.
"Who leaked the documents to the Australian?" she asked Mr Whybrow, who responded by asking: "What's happened now?"
Ms Jerome quickly fired back a link to the article, saying it was "outrageous".
Mr Whybrow insisted Mr Lehrmann's defence team was "100%" not behind the leak, telling Ms Jerome he hoped she would "make the same accusation to the cops".
"I have no idea where that comes from," he said, adding that he could not read the article.
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This prompted Ms Jerome to screenshot the story and send it to the defence barrister.
"Wow! Thanks for sending. F---!" Mr Whybrow wrote back.
Mr Whybrow finished giving oral evidence on Tuesday at the independent inquiry, at which he expressed fears Mr Drumgold had "aligned himself with Ms Higgins" instead of remaining an impartial minister for justice.
The inquiry is concerned with the actions of Mr Drumgold, police and ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates in connection with Mr Lehrmann's case.
It is set to start hearing from police witnesses next week.
