Lehrmann sues Ten: ‘Passionate kiss, thigh touching in nightclub before alleged rape’

Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins were kissing and touching in a booth on the night he allegedly raped her in Parliament House, a court has heard.

Bruce Lehrmann is seen arriving at the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins were passionately kissing, touching one another’s thighs and sitting “quite close together” in a nightclub booth on the night he allegedly raped her in Parliament House, the Federal Court has heard.

The court on Wednesday also heard Mr Lehrmann was reprimanded by then-defence industries minister Linda Reynolds for having a heated discussion with a co-worker about Ms Higgins, despite previously giving evidence that he was “not disciplined” over the discussion.

Mr Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and presenter Lisa Wilkinson over her interview with Ms Higgins on The Project in 2021, detailing accu­sations that Mr Lehrmann had raped Ms Higgins on March 23, 2019, but not naming him as the alleged attacker. Mr Lehrmann has consistently denied raping Ms Higgins.

Ten called a series of former Liberal staffers to give evidence on Friday, including Lauren Gain who said she saw Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann engage in “one passionate kiss” at the 88mph bar hours before the alleged rape occurred.

While Ms Gain said she had six or seven drinks at The Dock hotel before going to 88mph, she recalled various interactions between Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann at the retro-themed nightclub. “I remember Brittany and Bruce sitting on the opposite side of the booth to (former Liberal staffer) Austin (Wenke) and myself and I remember Brittany falling over and having to be helped back up,” she said.

“I remember Brittany and Bruce sitting quite close together. I remember them being quite touchy with one another. I remember them kissing, and I remember her taking selfies of the two of them.”

Mr Lehrmann has previously denied kissing Ms Higgins at the 88mph bar.

Lauren Gain.

Former media adviser Nicky Hamer also fronted the court on Friday, giving evidence that she resigned from her job after a tense discussion with Mr Lehrmann about Ms Higgins at the Kingston Hotel.

The discussion was had on March 2, 2019 – after Senator Reynolds’s swearing-in ceremony – three weeks before the alleged rape occurred. Ms Hamer said Mr Lehrmann had encouraged her to invite Ms Higgins to the pub, saying he thought she was “good looking”.

“He made a comment saying, Brittany is good looking, is she free?” Ms Hamer said. “Can you reach out on Instagram and see if she’s free to come to the pub.”

At the time, Ms Higgins was looking for a new job, having lost her role in former Liberal minister Steven Ciobo’s office after he was dropped from the ministry.

After Ms Higgins’s arrival at the pub, she went outside to have a conversation with Ms Hamer. Ms Higgins previously gave evidence the conversation was about a potential role in Senator Reynolds’ office, while Ms Hamer on Wednesday said it was in regards to their careers more broadly.

Ms Hamer said that once the pair came back inside and Ms Higgins said she had to leave to go to another event, Mr Lehrmann took Ms Higgins’s phone so she could not leave.

Ms Hamer said the phone was only with Mr Lehrmann for “a minute or two” before it was returned to Ms Higgins and she left.

Ms Hamer said she then had a tense conversation with Liberal staffer Jesse Wotton and Mr Lehrmann, who accused her of “being a feminist and feeling like I have to go and defend women.”

“Bruce said I’d overreacted in the way I kind of spoke up and tried to defend Brittany,” Ms Hamer said.

Later that night, while intoxicated, Ms Hamer wrote a resignation letter to Senator Reynolds after she felt Mr Lehrmann “ganged up” on her. She withdrew the resignation following a meeting with Senator Reynolds.

Mr Wotton told the court that during the heated discussion Ms Hamer “first turned to Mr Lehrmann and said ‘you shut the f..k up’ and then she turned to me and repeated it.” He said Senator Reynolds held separate meetings with him and Mr Lehrmann reprimanding them for the discussion.

Mr Wotton said he and Mr Lehrmann were “unhappy with the view the minister had taken on what occurred.”