Lehrmann says he considered self-harm after rape allegations ‘rocked’ his world

Bruce Lehrmann has always denied raping his former colleague, Brittany Higgins, now a jury has heard his side of the story including how the allegations “rocked his world” and left him on the verge of taking his own life.

Bruce Lehrmann has always denied raping his former colleague, Brittany Higgins, now a jury has heard his side of the story including how the allegations left him on the verge of taking his own life.

Lehrmann, 27, was a senior adviser to Senator and then-minister Linda Reynolds when he went out drinking with colleagues, including Ms Higgins, on the evening of Friday, March 22, 2019, in Canberra.

Lehrmann has not taken the stand in the ACT Supreme Court after pleading not guilty to sexual intercourse with Ms Higgins, without her consent and being reckless to her consent.

But a police interview, recorded last year, was played in court this week in which, for the first time, revealed Lehrmann’s version of events as he spoke to AFP detectives in Sydney, without his lawyer present, before he was charged with any alleged crime.

In it, he told officers he and Ms Higgins had been drinking with two more political staffers, at an 80s dance bar called 88MPH in Canberra, because he loved 80s music, and a “boogie”.

Bruce Lehrmann arrives at court on October 14 in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman

His barrister, Steve Whybrow, said in his opening to the jury that Ms Higgins had “erased” important information including that a witness may have seen her and Lehrmann kissing.

Ms Higgins told police, in her own interview, she did not remember such a kiss but she trusted a sober mind over her own as she was very drunk.

Mr Lehrmann was not explicitly asked in his police interview, except if he had any “intimate” contact with Ms Higgins at the bar.

“Yeah, it’s possible, but would I have acted beyond anything that was a bit flirtatious? Absolutely not, because I was in a relationship,” Lehrmann told officers.

Lehrmann told police he needed to return to Parliament House after 1am, to pick up his house keys and tend to some Question Time documents for Ms Reynolds before he went home.

Lehrmann told officers he was “shocked” when Ms Higgins, who worked as a media adviser in the office, said she also needed to do some work in parliament late at night.

Brittany Higgins (middle) at the Magistrates Court in Canberra. Picture: Gary Ramage

“I was going to get my keys, but that’s her business. I’m not a media adviser and thought maybe the minister asked her something,” Lehrmann told police.

Lehrmann told officers he believed he was “being a gentleman” by ordering an Uber to Parliament House and inviting Ms Higgins to come along.

Ms Higgins, in her own evidence, flatly denied she needed to go to work – and told the court she believed she was going home when she got in the car at 88MPH.

Two Parliament House chiefs of staff told the court, this week, Lehrmann told them he went to parliament “to drink whiskey”.

One of them, his boss, said he had “no urgent work” to take care of.

Lehrmann and Higgins arrived at parliament just before 2am and an intercom was recording as he told security he was there “to pick up some documents”.

CCTV captured the pair of them going through security and being escorted to the suite – Ms Higgins was recorded carrying her heels because she was struggling to put them back on.

The stories, between Ms Higgins and Lehrmann, deviate far more wildly after CCTV captured them entering the lift that took them to Senator Reynolds’ office.

Lehrmann told two Parliament House chiefs of staff he went to the building to drink whiskey, the court heard.

“I entered the office and turned left to my desk, Brittney turned right and went into the minister’s suite opposite the chief of staff’s suite,” Lehrmann told police.

“I didn’t see her again.”

Lehrmann told the police he left out the back door of the office suite, after about 20 minutes, when he completed working on documents for question time.

He said he did not interact with Ms Higgins again in the office before leaving and was not “intimate” with her.

Ms Higgins, by contrast, told the court she woke up on Senator Reynolds’ office couch to find Lehrmann on top of her, raping her, as she said “no” repeatedly.

Within three days, the jury in his sexual assault trial heard, Lehrmann was terminated for breaching security in Parliament House and within a week Ms Higgins had told two people he was a rapist.

By early 2021 Ms Higgins had spoken to journalists Samantha Maiden and Lisa Wilkinson and, Lehrmann told police, the ensuring fallout from the ensuing media storm left him contemplating suicide.

Bruce Lehrmann arrived court after day five of the trial. Picture: Gary Ramage

“My world has been rocked,” he said.

Lehrmann told officers he had received “hurtful” calls from journalists and suggested he “was ready to go” by the end of it. He was to leave his superannuation to his single mother – he told officers he was now seeing a psychologist in his hometown of Toowoomba.

In the ACT Supreme Court on Monday, watching the footage play, Lehrmann became visibly emotional as the recording played.

He stopped jotting notes in his Moleskine notebook, a habit he has maintained the entire trial, looked away from the public gallery and breathed deeply.

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Originally published as Lehrmann says he considered self-harm after rape allegations ‘rocked’ his world