Linda Reynolds sues Brittany Higgins’ fiance David Sharaz over tweets
Senator Linda Reynolds is seeking aggravated damages from her former staffer Brittany Higgins’s partner David Sharaz, claiming she’s suffered highly distressing trolling.
Linda Reynolds is seeking aggravated damages from the fiance of her former staffer Brittany Higgins, with the WA Liberal senator saying she has suffered highly distressing trolling over the past two years.
The former cabinet minister filed a writ with the WA Supreme Court on Friday claiming that former journalist David Sharaz defamed her in two tweets sent in 2022.
Senator Reynolds is seeking an injunction to stop the material from ever being republished as well as for Mr Sharaz to foot her legal bill.
Senator Reynolds told The Australian she had been subject to online harassment over her conduct after Ms Higgins alleged in media reports she had been raped by her then colleague in the senator’s office.
“For the best part of the last two years I have been the subject of harassing and highly distressing trolling on social media regarding myself and my conduct in respect of events concerning Ms Brittany Higgins which has damaged my reputation and caused me, my family and my staff, considerable stress and anguish,” she said.
“Mr Sharaz has been a constant participant in the trolling.
“In light of the conclusion of the criminal trial and the resolution of the civil action involving Ms Higgins and the Commonwealth, I am now at liberty to take steps to vindicate my reputation and provide some truth to the matters the subject of these trolling comments.”
Ms Higgins alleged Bruce Lehrmann raped her on the couch in the office of Senator Reynolds, who was then defence industry minister, in the early hours of March 23, 2019, after a night out drinking with colleagues.
The former staffer went public with her story on February 15, 2021, before making a formal complaint against Mr Lehrmann with the Australian Federal Police.
Mr Lehrmann has strenuously denied the allegations and the high-profile trial was aborted in October 2022 after a juror was discovered to have brought outside research into the jury room.
He was scheduled to face a retrial in the ACT Supreme Court in February before ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC announced in December he would not run the case again due to the “ongoing trauma” it would cause Ms Higgins.
Days later Ms Higgins reached a confidential settlement with the Commonwealth, believed to be worth up to $3m, over the former staffer’s claims she was not supported by Senator Reynolds or Liberal Party frontbencher Michaelia Cash after the alleged sexual assault.
The new defamation action comes after Senator Reynolds reportedly filed separate proceedings against publishing house HarperCollins and Australian Financial Review journalist Aaron Patrick over his book Ego: Malcolm Turnbull and the Liberal Party’s Civil War.
Senator Reynolds is seeking aggravated damages, costs and a court order that would force HarperCollins to remove the book from sale.
Mr Sharaz proposed to Ms Higgins at the Cape Byron Lighthouse on New Year’s Eve, with the engagement captured by the paparazzi. Photographs were published by Daily Mail Australia.
Mr Sharaz, whose Twitter account has been deactivated, declined to comment.
More Coverage
PM defends silence around caravan plot detail amid Dutton criticism
Peter Dutton has renewed attacks on the government's anti-Semitism response as the PM rejects calls to reveal when he was briefed about the caravan plot that had potential to be 'the most catastrophic terrorist attack'.
Federal Labor on a collision course with miners over green push
The federal government has made a powerful enemy for itself in the west after the Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA said it would fight Labor’s push for so-called nature-positive laws.