David Sharaz waves white flag in Linda Reynolds defamation case
David Sharaz declares he will no longer defend himself against the defamation claim lodged by Linda Reynolds, saying he cannot afford it.
Brittany Higgins’ fiance David Sharaz has declared he will no longer defend himself against the defamation claim lodged against him by Linda Reynolds, in the latest twist in the long-running legal saga.
Senator Reynolds is suing Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz at the same time over the social media posts in 2022 and 2023. Senator Reynolds is expected to argue that her reputation was destroyed by a false allegation that she was part of an attempt to cover-up the rape of Ms Higgins by her then-colleague Bruce Lehrmann and the social media posts by the pair that pushed that false allegation.
In a directions hearing in the Supreme Court of Western Australia on Tuesday, Mr Sharaz’s lawyer described the impending six week trial – scheduled to start in late July – as horrendously expensive and a disaster for everyone. He said Mr Sharaz could not afford to participate in it.
Earlier, Mr Sharaz had posted a statement on social media saying he had informed the court that he would not fight the legal action against him any more.
“I will now appeal for Senator Reynolds to settle her litigation against Brittany, a rape victim, by agreeing to disagree and putting all of this behind them. It’s time to move on,” he wrote.
“It’s time to let Brittany heal.”
— David Sharaz (@SharazDavid) April 30, 2024
Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz returned to Australia from their new home in France earlier this year for a court-ordered and ultimately fruitless mediation with Senator Reynolds.
Since then, Justice Michael Lee handed down his Federal Court judgment in Mr Lehrmann’s defamation claim against Network 10 finding that, on a balance of probabilities, Mr Lehrmann had in fact raped Ms Higgins.
But Justice Lee also slammed the cover-up allegation pushed by Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz as “objectively short on facts, but long on speculation and internal inconsistencies”.
“Trying to particularise it during the evidence was like trying to grab a column of smoke,” he wrote.
After Justice Lee’s judgment, Ms Higgins issued a public statement in which she acknowledged that “Senator Reynolds and Fiona Brown have also been hurt and for that I am also sorry”.
“My perceptions and feelings about what happened in the days and weeks after my rape are different from theirs,” she said.
‘I deeply regret we have not yet found common ground. I hope we can resolve our differences with a better understanding of each other’s experiences.”
Senator Reynolds said soon after that while she appreciated the apology, she would continue her defamation case unless Ms Higgins accepted Justice Lee’s findings there was no political cover-up.
“If Ms Higgins does not accept Justice Lee’s findings on the claims of cover-up and mistreatment then, regrettably, it will have to be proved again in our trial set for July this year,” she said.
Senator Reynolds, who was defence minister at the time of the rape, has previously announced that she will retire from politics at the next election.
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