An ACT police officer who handled Brittany Higginsâ sexual assault allegation against Bruce Lehrmann has told the court that police encountered significant âpushbackâ in their attempts to secure CCTV footage from Parliament House on the night of the alleged rape.
The judge overseeing Bruce Lehrmannâs defamation trial against Network Ten has allowed the accused rapist to rely on a settlement deed between the federal government and Brittany Higgins, saying it was âinconsistentâ with her evidence.
A former personal aide to Senator Linda Reynolds has given evidence in a defamation trial that she spoke with her boss about Bruce Lehrmannâs alleged assault against Brittany Higgins two weeks after the incident and that the ex-defence minister had told her she âfelt sickâ about it.
The ABC and a News Corp unit agreed to pay $445,000 to settle defamation claims by Bruce Lehrmann over allegations that he raped fellow Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins in Parliament House.Â
A former Liberal staffer has doubled down on her evidence that Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins were âtouchyâ with one another on the night she was allegedly raped by Lehrmann, a claim which he has denied.Â
Brittany Higgins has denied she tried to derail a criminal retrial of former colleague and alleged rapist Bruce Lehrmann in favour of a civil case with a lower standard of proof, as she revealed in court the federal government paid $2.3 million to settle her claims.
Brittany Higgins has been questioned over messages she sent to a friend shortly after she was allegedly raped at Parliament House that are said to contradict her account, with the former Liberal staffer saying she âwasnât readyâ to disclose the truth.
Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins told a court Friday she tried to “reclaim” the dress she wore on the night of her alleged raped by later wearing it to a birthday function for her then boss, Senator Linda Reynolds.
The judge overseeing alleged rapist Bruce Lehrmannâs defamation case against Network Ten and presenter Lisa Wilkinson has deferred a decision about whether accuser Brittany Higgins can be questioned over her speech outside the ACT courthouse after a mistrial was declared in Lehrmannâs criminal case.
Facing cross-examination for the first time in Bruce Lehrmannâs defamation case, former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins has denied she adapted her evidence to suit new information and dismissed the âinsultingâ proposition that she fabricated the alleged rape by Lehrmann out of fear she would lose her job.