Brittany Higgins’ interview with The Project won’t be used in rape trial

Brittany Higgins will take the stand at the trial of the man accused of raping her, but her six-hour interview with Channel 10 will not be tendered.

The ACT Supreme Court heard Brittany Higgins will take the stand in addition to having her electronic recorded interview used. Picture: NCA NewsWire

A recorded conversation between Brittany Higgins and a journalist will be played during the trial of the man accused of raping her at Parliament House, but her six-hour interview with The Project will not be tendered.

Crown prosecutor Shane Drumgold told the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday that he had “no legal basis” to rely on raw footage of the Network Ten interview but a journalist from the show will be called to give evidence.

The court was not told if the journalist in question was The Project’s host, Lisa Wilkinson, or another member of the program’s team.

The court also heard that Ms Higgins will take the stand in addition to having her electronic recorded interview used.

“For additional evidence in chief and cross examination, she wants to be in the courtroom,” Mr Drumgold said.

Brittany Higgins alleges she was raped inside an office at Parliament House in March 2019. Picture: NCA Newswire

Ms Higgins alleges Bruce Lehrmann raped her inside senator Linda Reynolds’ office at Parliament House in March 2019.

The 27-year-old was last year charged with sexual intercourse without consent and has since pleaded not guilty.

Mr Lehrmann’s legal team last year said the ex-Liberal staffer “absolutely and unequivocally denies that any form of sexual activity took place”.

Wednesday’s hearing also heard the prosecution would rely on CCTV footage from Parliament House and other locations, interviews with Mr Lehrmann and Ms Higgins, photographs and other audio material.

The court heard that all exhibits to be tendered during the trial are in electronic form and that the majority are in PDF form.

Last week the court heard that lawyers for the man accused of raping Ms Higgins are seeking access to documents detailing the alleged victim’s version of events and “subsequent discrepancies”.

Mr Lehrmann’s counsel Andrew Berger KC on Wednesday subpoenaed the AFP for the documents.

A lawyer representing the AFP said it would provide documents over which there was no claim of privilege by 11am Friday.

The AFP would also, at that time, provide a catalogue of documents which it claims are privileged, specifically subject to claims of legal professional privilege.

Mr Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow is also seeking an unredacted version of a report detailing the contents of Ms Higgins mobile phone ahead of their client’s high-profile rape trial which starts next month.

By last week the DPP had appointed barrister Keegan Lee to work through the 56,000-page Cellebrite report to determine which “documents or categories of documents” from the phone might be disclosable.

The defence is seeking a copy of the “full Cellebrite extraction” because it believes

“there is material that could possibly be relevant to issues in the case”.

“We’re having conversations about things we may not need, that might not be relevant, but why a larger quantity could be relevant for a whole range of issues,” Mr Whybrow said.

The matter was set down for another pre-trial mention on Friday.

The trial, before ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum, is due to start on October 4.