A former personal aide to Senator Linda Reynolds has given evidence in a defamation trial that she spoke with her boss about Bruce Lehrmann’s alleged assault against Brittany Higgins two weeks after the incident and that the ex-defence minister had told her she “felt sick” 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.
A former Liberal staffer has doubled down on her evidence that Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins were “touchy” with one another on the night she was allegedly raped by Lehrmann, a claim which he has denied.
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 “wasn’t ready” 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 Lehrmann’s 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 Lehrmann’s criminal case.
Facing cross-examination for the first time in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case, former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins has denied she adapted her evidence to suit new information and dismissed the “insulting” proposition that she fabricated the alleged rape by Lehrmann out of fear she would lose her job.
Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins has given details about her alleged rape by former colleague Bruce Lehrmann in Parliament House, an event she says left her “completely disconnected” from herself.
Network Ten has foreshadowed “graphic and distressing” evidence from Brittany Higgins, the first of many witnesses that will be called by the broadcaster, including an expert lip reader and toxicologist.