Brittany Higgins returns to court as Bruce Lehrmann rape trial continues

Brittany Higgins has broken down in tears during cross examination being questioned over the night of her alleged assault.

Brittany Higgins has directly addressed the man accused of raping her during her cross examination.

Ms Higgins arrived at the ACT Supreme Court Friday morning following a four-day absence from the trial for Bruce Lehrmann.

Mr Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexually assaulting Ms Higgins in Senator Linda Reynolds’ office in the early hours of March 23, 2019.

He has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent.

As her cross-examination continued, Mr Lehrmann’s lawyer, Steven Whybrow, suggested that Ms Higgins was concerned about her dream job being in jeopardy following her meeting with Fiona Brown on the Tuesday after the alleged assault.

The former Liberal staffer told the court speaking with Ms Brown was the first time she had “let it out”.

“I just completely broke down. Up until then I was holding it in,” she said.

Ms Higgins then appeared to directly speak to Mr Lehrmann, saying “nothing was fine after what you did to me. Nothing”.

Brittany Higgins (centre) is expected to return to the witness stand today. Picture: Gary Ramage

‘He was in my body’: Higgins breaks down in court

The court has seen Ms Higgins break down on the witness stand following a number of suggestions from Mr Lehrmann’s lawyer about the night of the alleged assault.

Ms Higgins confirmed she did not recall whether she went to the couch of Senator Reynolds’ office on her own or whether she was led there by Mr Lehrmann.

Mr Whybrow suggested Ms Higgins did not see Mr Lehrmann again, to which she said he did not “accept any of this”.

“Mr Lehrmann did not sexually assault you. He didn’t come into the ministerial suite at all,: Mr Whybrow said.

“I obviously don’t agree. He raped me,” Ms Higgins said.

“He was physically violating me. He was in my body. I know,” Ms Higgins said, becoming visibly upset.

Ms Higgins was then asked if she would like to take a short break before continuing, which she accepted.

‘A lie’: Higgins grilled over dress claim

Ms Higgins has been grilled over what she told police about the white Kookai cocktail dress she was wearing on the night of the alleged rape.

Mr Whybrow has previously confronted Ms Higgins in the courtroom with an image of her wearing the dress in Perth in 2019.

He has previously suggested this was at odds with her claim that she had put the dress under her bed and did not wear it for six months.

Mr Whybrow today returned to the issue and confronted her about what she said to Detective Emma Frizzell on the 6th of February 2021.

“You told her you had washed the dress,’’ Mr Whybrow said. “That statement I suggest was a lie.”

Ms Higgins replied: “I had washed the dress. I told her that upfront.”

“Did you tell her you never wore the dress again?’’ Mr Whybrow said.

The court previously heard that Ms Higgins washed the dress and wore it one more time at a Liberal party dinner while in Western Australia for the federal election.

Director of Public Prosecutions, Shane Drumgold, asked Ms Higgins what she did with the dress when she returned to Canberra.

She told the court she “never wore it again” saying it was just placed in her room.

Ms Higgins was also asked about her decision to speak with the media and go to the police in 2021.

Ms Higgins said going to the police “was about going through the justice system to see if I could have this day in court to be here”.

Going to the media, Ms Higgins said it was about the “systematic failure in Parliament House”.

“There are a dozen stories like mine,” she said.

The trial will resume on Monday, with Senator Reynolds, Michaelia Cash and Ms Higgins’ partner David Sharaz among the names left on the updated witness list.

The trial is expected to come to an end next week.

‘Not a monster’: Brittany denies ‘fabricating’ evidence

Ms Higgins has told the court that she is “not a monster”, after Mr Lehrmann’s lawyer suggested she fabricated her alleged sexual assault to save her job.

Mr Whybrow suggested that Ms Higgins was “embarrassed” after being informed that she had been seen naked by a security guard and became “very stressed” about her job.

The defence suggested Ms Higgins then did what she “felt was necessary” to make people believe she had been assaulted.

“I am not a monster. I would never do something like that,” she said.

“I cared about my job but I would never do that.”

Earlier in questioning, Ms Higgins said she cared about her job “more than my own life”.

Mr Whybrow has referred to email communications between Ms Higgins and the accused following the alleged assault.

The former Liberal staffer exchanged a number of work-related emails with Mr Lehrmann on the Monday, with Ms Higgins telling the court she was “compartmentalising” her trauma.

“I cared about my job weirdly more than my own life, which is f***ed up,” Ms Higgins said, before apologising.

Earlier, Ms Higgins was questioned about a claim that she made where she said Mr Lehrmann tried to kiss her in the weeks prior to the alleged assault.

Mr Whybrow, suggested to Ms Higgins that she “misremembered” the situation.

“That is incorrect,” she told the court.

“I just know we went to the Kingo and he made an attempt to kiss me before he left.”

During cross examination this morning. Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer Mr Whybrow has accused Ms Higgins of “fabricating” a photo of a bruise that she alleges was a result of the sexual assault by Mr Lehrmann.

He put it to Ms Higgins that she had not mentioned the bruise to the police when she first spoke to them on April 1, 2019.

Her initial meeting with police was two days before she says the photo was taken around April 3.

Ms Higgins told the court she remembered being asked to keep photos by police later and so she kept a photo of the bruise.

Ms Higgins confirmed she sent the photo to journalists Samantha Maiden and Lisa Wilkinson but said before making a complaint to police but said it was not the sort of image she would “send around” to others

When Mr Whybrow suggested to her the bruise was a “fabrication”, Ms Higgins replied, “Yeah sure.”

“I reject you completely,’’ she told the court.

Higgins ‘wasn’t perfect’

Mr Whybrow has suggested to the court that in one of her first discussions with police Ms Higgins had said she had visited a doctor when she had not.

The former Liberal staffer told the court that she repeatedly made appointments to see a GP and had “every intention of going” but was unable to follow through.

“Confronting it with a health professional was a really big f***ing deal for me,” she said.

“I wasn’t perfect.”

Bruce Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent. Picture: Gary Ramage

‘Felt threatening’: Meeting with bosses ‘where alleged rape happened’

Ms Higgins has told the court her meeting with Senator Linda Reynolds and Fiona Brown following her alleged assault “felt threatening”.

“They took me into a room where the rape happened. It was a strange conversation that I perceived to be very adversarial.”

Mr Whybrow suggested that during that meeting, Senator Reynolds told Ms Higgins that she was within her rights to make a complaint to the police.

Ms Higgins told the court what was said in the meeting was framed in the context of the upcoming Federal Election, and she felt as if she was being told they wanted to be informed if and when Ms Higgins made a complaint to police.

“It had all these provisions on it,” she said.

“It felt threatening as an employee.”

Mr Whybrow then suggested that there was “no reference” in that meeting to the upcoming election, to which the former Liberal staffer said she disagreed.

Mr Whybrow continued, suggesting that Ms Higgins indicated that she was concerned about her job and she was told by Senator Reynolds that there would be no impact on her career.

“The words that were said and the context were very different things,” Ms Higgins said.

The former Liberal staffer said Senator Reynolds “said nice things” in the meeting but she viewed it as “very threatening”.

Mr Whybrow told Ms Higgins he appreciated that was how she felt, but suggested that neither Ms Brown or Senator Reynolds indicated her job was on the line.

“Fiona Brown did,” Ms Higgins said.

The jury heard Ms Higgins say she was told she could return to the Gold Coast and be paid out for the entirely of the election.

However, Ms Higgins said there would be “no prospect of coming back”, adding that was the “tipping point” for her to agree to go to Perth.

Cash ‘blatantly lied’ but they were friends

Ms Higgins has told the court she was friends with her former boss Senator Michaelia Cash, but said she had “lied” about not knowing about her alleged assault.

Ms Higgins described a recorded phone conversation between the pair on February 5, 2021, as “strange”, telling the court Senator Cash pretended not to know about her alleged assault despite the former Liberal staffer claiming to have spoken to her about it on multiple occasions.

The jury heard Ms Higgins say Senator Cash was very supportive of her, calling her a “good boss” and saying she “liked working for her”.

“We were friends weirdly,” Ms Higgins said.

The former Liberal staffer said she didn’t have any ill will towards Senator Cash, butt hat but that she had “blatantly lied” about not knowing about her alleged assault.

“That’s not my problem, that’s hers,” she said.

Higgins returns to witness stand

Ms Higgins has resumed her cross examination with Mr Lehrmann’s lawyer, Steven Whybrow, today after being unavailable since Monday.

Multiple witnesses have been called this week but a suppression order is in place for all evidence given in the former Liberal staffer’s absence.

The trial was initially expected to run between four and six weeks, with 58 names included on the potential witness list.

However, an updated list provided by the court on Thursday afternoon showed more than a dozen potential witnesses have been dropped, including The Project’s Lisa Wilkinson and news.com.au political editor Samantha Maiden.

The updated witness list confirms that Senator Linda Reynolds, who was Defence Industry Minister at the time of the alleged incident in her office in 2019, will be called next week.

It also confirms that Senator Michaelia Cash, who Ms Higgins worked for until 2021, will also be called to give evidence.

Ms Higgins’ partner David Sharaz and Senator Cash’s former chief of staff Daniel Try are also included in the list.

The trial is now expected to wrap up sometime next week, with the prosecution expecting to close its case by Tuesday