Brittany Higgins has strongly denied making up her claim that Bruce Lehrmann sexually assaulted her while she was sitting on a federal minister’s couch.
During her cross-examination by Lehrmann’s attorney, Steven Whybrow SC, Higgins broke down in tears during her testimony in today’s Federal Court defamation trial.
“That is a fabrication that you were sexually assaulted,” Whybrow stated.
“I recognize that as your claim. Although it’s offensive, I can understand it,” Higgins retorted.
In response to an interview with Higgins in a February 2021 report on The Project, Lehrmann filed a defamation lawsuit against Network Ten and writer Lisa Wilkinson.
The rape is said to have taken place early on March 23, 2019, in the Parliament House office of Lehrmann and Higgins’s former supervisor, Senator Linda Reynolds.
Lehrmann disputes the existence of any intimate or sexual relationships.
Whybrow grilled Higgins for a long time about how her evidence had developed between police statements, court transcripts, interviews with journalists from Ten and news.com.au, and an early manuscript of a book she had given to Penguin Random House.
One instance involved a variation in the position of a chocolate box consumed subsequent to the purported rape.
“I want to suggest to you that is an example of your evidence evolving as you find out new information,” Whybrow stated.
With a “no, I don’t accept that,” Higgins replied.
In a five-hour interview with Wilkinson and Ten producer Angus Llewellyn in January 2021, prior to being filmed for The Project broadcast, she acknowledged making false claims.
The court was informed that these claims, which covered what security did and what she was wearing following the alleged rape, were founded on her beliefs at the time.
Higgins was also pressed for an explanation of the circumstances surrounding the alleged rape in her $325,000 book deal with Penguin Random House.
Considering that Higgins was still awaiting her estimated $216,000, she refuted having a financial stake in the outcome of the defamation lawsuit, despite having already received an advance of about $108,000.
“I’ll give all $200,000 to charity if I ever manage to finish the book. Money is not a concern for me,” she declared to Justice Michael Lee.
Higgins stated that the evidence she provided to the court was accurate and that the draft she sent to Penguin in April 2021 was “crap” with false information regarding the alleged rape.
The defamation trial is still ongoing, with nearly 15,000 viewers on a webcast.
In his prior testimony, Lehrmann acknowledged giving several falsehoods and lies to the police, Parliament House security, his boss and supervisor, and the media.
He was accused of rape in August 2021, but jury misconduct caused his criminal trial at the ACT Supreme Court to be halted.
Because of worries about Higgins’ mental state, the prosecution decided not to pursue a second trial.
Former director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold has attempted to contest the indicting conclusions of a historic August report on the ACT legal system and the Higgins case.
In addition, Lehrmann is charged by Queensland courts with twice raping a different woman in Toowoomba in October 2021.
Though his attorneys have stated he denies the charges, he has not yet entered a plea.
