Police officers ‘tried to discredit’ rape claims, says Brittany Higgins

Brittany Higgins has lashed out at the ‘belittling’ police officers who investigated her rape allegations, saying they intentionally tried to throw off her case.

Brittany Higgins arriving at court for the rape trial of Bruce Lehrmann. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Brittany Higgins has lashed out at the “awful” police officers who investigated her rape allegations, saying the cops made her feel “violated” and claiming they intentionally tried to discredit her and throw off her case.

Meanwhile the Australian Federal Police Association has stood by the numerous senior and junior officers who have lost their jobs or gone on long-term sick leave and will never return, in the wake of baseless accusations against them by ACT chief prosecutor Shane Drumgold.

Ms Higgins accused the police officers of never wanting to charge her alleged rapist Bruce Lehrmann, “despite the fact that no-one, not even the defence, made an application contending that the prosecution was not properly commenced.”

“They made a fun folder full of unfounded claims in a literal attempt to discredit me as a permissible rape victim to the office of the DPP,” she said in a statement posted to social media.

“They wrongly handed over my most private thoughts taken over years in counselling sessions at the Rape Crisis Centre to defence.”

Brittany Higgins accused the police officers of never wanting to charge her alleged rapist.

Brittany Higgins said the officers were “absolutely awful” to her throughout the investigation.

Ms Higgins accused the officers of not knowing the limits for charging in sexual assault instances, aligning herself with a recommendation from an inquiry by Walter Sofronoff KC that police officers be better trained on the handling of counselling notes, the threshold to charge someone over sexual offences and the adjudication process.

The Sofronoff inquiry into the handling of Mr Lehrmann’s case found that although mistakes were made by police, none had engaged in misconduct and investigators “performed their duties in absolute good faith, with great determination although faced with obstacles, and put together a sound case”.

Ms Higgins said the officers were “absolutely awful” to her throughout the investigation, and spoke down to her while she was giving evidence.

“They made me feel violated at every turn,” she said. “I will always remember how small I felt having five senior police officers I‘ve never met in a room belittling me – after I had just spent hours giving evidence in a second EIC (evidence in chief) interview.

“They cast judgments about the merits of my advocacy and regularly reiterated the reasons why they thought that I shouldn‘t proceed with pressing charges.”

Thirteen Australian Federal Police officers involved in the investigation of the rape claims have experienced catastrophic damage to their lives and careers from the inquiry Mr Drumgold demanded, The Australian revealed on Wednesday.

ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold.

Mr Drumgold denigrated the police in court during the Lehrmann trial, remarking that the quality of the police interview with Ms Higgins “is determined by the skillsets of those police officers asking the questions … which in this case was not high.”

The Sofronoff inquiry heard that during a break in the trial, Mr Drumgold had called the investigating police “boofheads”.

Ms Higgins said she did not wish to “celebrate the misfortune of others.”

“However,” she continued, “these officers were disgraced by their conduct not by the DPP.”

The AFPA on Wednesday knocked back Ms Higgins’ allegations, saying the officers involved had “done the right thing” in apologising to her, and reminding “members of the community” that the rape investigation and subsequent inquiry had profound impacts on officers involved.

“While I acknowledge that mistakes can‘t be unmade, ACT Policing has done the right thing and apologised to Ms Higgins. I know that ACT Policing is committed, as demonstrated by accepting the Inquiry‘s recommendations to ensure that mistakes like this don’t occur again.“ AFPA President Alex Caruana said.

“There are no winners from this investigation and inquiry. This investigation and subsequent Inquiry have hurt and damaged many people. In a perfect world, that wouldn‘t happen, but as we all sadly know, a perfect world isn‘t reality.

“The AFPA and I, as President, will continue to stand by the members who were part of the investigation team and presented evidence at the Inquiry. We know these people and how much of an impact this has had on them and their families. They are all passionate about being police officers, protecting the community and putting people before a judicial process if required. Police can‘t control what a jury member does, nor can they control how a judicial process will conclude.”