Brittany Higgins to be grilled over rape allegation
Miklos Bolza |
Brittany Higgins’ claims of being raped by Bruce Lehrmann and let down by the Liberal Party’s response will be tested in the Federal Court.
Ms Higgins will on Thursday be grilled about the alleged sexual assault, which Lehrmann denies, and its ramifications as she continues testimony in a defamation hearing against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
Lehrmann is suing Ten and Wilkinson over a February 2021 report on The Project detailing the allegation, which he denies.
His legal counsel is set to probe Ms Higgins’ claims for any inconsistencies and falsehoods, in an attack on her reliability and credibility.
On Wednesday during questioning by Ten’s barrister Matthew Collins KC, Ms Higgins described how she woke up with Lehrmann on top of her on a couch in the office of their then boss, senator Linda Reynolds.
She called Lehrmann a “bad person who did a bad thing” and said she was angry at then-senator Reynolds and her staff for their response to the rape claims and workplace culture in general.
“All these good people did nothing,” she said.
“I can’t explain how hurt I was that I was just abandoned like that.”
Lehrmann has already given evidence in the trial and has admitted to a number of lies and false statements he gave to police, Parliament House security, his employer and supervisor, and the media.
He was charged in August 2021 over the alleged rape, but his criminal trial in the ACT Supreme Court was derailed by juror misconduct. Prosecutors did not seek a second trial, citing concerns for Ms Higgins’ mental health.
A landmark report into the ACT legal system and the Higgins case in August made damning findings against former director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold, which he has sought to challenge.
Lehrmann is also before Queensland courts accused of raping another woman twice in Toowoomba in October 2021.
He has not yet entered a plea, but his lawyers have indicated he denies the charges.
1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732)
National Sexual Abuse and Redress Support Service 1800 211 028
AAP
