Exclusive: The owner of a car allegedly stolen by former political staffer Bruce Lehrmann says she’s never met him before and can’t explain why it was taken. 

In the small Tasmanian hamlet of Mountain River, 30 minutes out of Hobart, Gail Oates and her Toyota Prado are making national headlines.

“I just don’t understand it,” she told 9News.

Her 4WD was taken in the early hours of Monday, November 20, 2024.

The alleged thief was Lehrmann.

Oates, who had hidden her keys inside the car, says she noticed the vehicle was missing when she left the house at 7am to drive her son to work.

“Panic, panic, absolute panic, because I knew that was my pride and joy the Prado – so I rang the police straight away,” she said.

But by midday, it was returned with the keys and a full tank of fuel.

“It was so weird and bizarre,” she said.

She says police showed her security vision of a man at a nearby service station.

“(He) put fuel in my car and bought a bottle of Coke,” Oates said.

“(Police) then came and asked me if I could identify him and I did not know him from a bar of soap.”

Oates only discovered today the man charged is the former Liberal staffer.

She says she’s never met him before but her son briefly worked with him.

“I’ve never met that man before in my life, I’ve only seen him on the news,” Oates said.

There are media reports the 29-year-old has been living in Tasmania since last year when he lost his defamation battle against Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson when a judge found, on the balance of probabilities, he had raped Brittany Higgins inside Parliament House.

Lehrmann dialled into Hobart Magistrate’s Court today, charged with one count of stealing a motor vehicle.

He is yet to enter a plea and the case is expected back in June.