'I said no at least half a dozen times, he did not stop.'

Former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins broke down in tears after taking the stand for her rape trial against Bruce Lehrmann.

The court has been shown historic text messages between Higgins and another former staffer, in which Higgins alleges she was "barely lucid" during a sexual encounter with the accused.

Former ministerial staffer Brittany Higgins has alleged she was shocked into consciousness by a sharp pain as she was raped by Bruce Lehrmann because his knee was pressed so hard into her thigh it left a bruise.

Higgins, dressed in navy, took the witness stand in the ACT Supreme Court on Tuesday via videolink from a different courtroom in the building, with a support person by her side.

Details of the alleged rape and how the two political staffers came to be in the office of then defence minister Linda Reynolds were outlined on the first day of a trial that Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucy McCallum said has become a cause célèbre. 

The prosecution will likely call more than 50 witnesses including former defence minister Linda Reynolds, journalists Samantha Maiden and Lisa Wilkinson, former attorney-general Michaelia Cash and former chief of staff to then prime minister Scott Morrison John Kunkel. 

Brittany Higgins emerges from court in tears following the first day of her rape trial against Bruce Lehrmann.Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Higgins said in her first police interview recorded on February 24 in 2021 that she had been out drinking with defence industry contractors and fellow staffers at the Dock in Kingston on the evening of March 22 in 2019. 

The then 25-year-old said at the time she knew an election was imminent, which meant she could lose her job if the government changed, and she was trying to show her colleagues she had value by making introductions. 

Higgins said she had previously had an adversarial relationship with Lehrmann, who said she tried to carve up space in their office, but that he was congenial and the nicest he’d ever been on that evening. 

At one point later in the night at the 80s themed nightclub 88mph, Higgins fell over and was helped to her feet by Lehrmann. 

“I was quite accepting of his help,” said Higgins, who said she felt their relationship was improving. 

Higgins said she realised how drunk she was after she fell over and bruised her knee, and a member of their party suggested they leave. 

She and Lehrmann agreed to share an Uber to their respective homes because they lived in neighbouring suburbs but then Lehrmann said he had to pick something up from Parliament House. 

The pair arrived at Parliament House at about 1.40am on March 23 and Lehrmann asked to be let in by security. 

Parliamentary security will give evidence that Higgins was highly intoxicated, had grass stains down her dress and was unable to put her shoes on. 

Lehrmann will be described as intoxicated but not “staggeringly drunk”.

Higgins said in the police interview that her memory became hazy and the next thing she remembered was the sharp pain of Lehrmann’s knee pressed into her thigh, her underwear removed and her white dress bunched around her waist. 

“The next thing I remember is being on the couch as he was raping me,” she said. 

“I couldn’t get him off me. I was crying throughout the entire process. I said no at least half a dozen times, he did not stop.”

After the police interview finished Higgins wiped tears from her red and puffy eyes. 

Higgins was later found sleeping on the couch in Reynolds‘ office before she woke, crying and eating most of a box of Roses chocolates before vomiting. 

She then dressed herself in clothes from a bag earmarked for charity, combed her hair and left Parliament House, telling police she felt stressed, scared and embarrassed. 

The court heard Higgins texted her friend and former partner Ben Dillaway, then a political staffer for Steven Ciobo, that she’d woken “half naked” in Reynolds office and had been “barely lucid”. 

“I really don’t think it was consensual at all,” Higgins texted Dillaway on March 26. 

“If he thought it was okay why did he just leave me there?” 

Bruce Lehrmann, the man accused of the sexual assault of former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins, appeared at the Magistrates Court in Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Higgins said she first properly verbalised the alleged assault during a meeting with Fiona Brown, chief-of-staff to then defence minister Linda Reynolds, who’d earlier spoken to Lehrmann. 

Crown prosecutor Shane Drumgold said Lehrmann missed six calls from his then girlfriend before ordering an Uber from Parliament House, exiting the building before it arrived about 45 minutes after he and Higgins entered. 

Drumgold said the prosecution will argue the alleged rape occurred during the missed phone calls and the relevance of Higgins‘ intoxication was both the “absence of her consent and the accused’s recklessness towards it”.

Lehrmann pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges of sexual intercourse without consent and recklessness towards whether Higgins was consenting.

The court heard Lehrmann denies he had sex with Higgins and that a friend saw them kissing at the 88mph club, later texting that “Bruce and Brittney hooked up”. 

Steven Whybrow, representing Lehrmann, said the case epitomised the famous Mark Twain phrase “never let the truth get in the way of a good story” and said Higgins’ story was an “unstoppable snowball”. 

He said Higgins went to the media before the police at a time of intense public interest in violence against women, particularly sexual violence, power imbalances and workplace culture. 

“The Australian public has been sold a pup with this story,” he said.

“There‘s a story out there that’s not true.”

Whybrow said his client had faced trial by media and there were a number of inconsistencies in Higgins’ accounts that had been ignored by journalists. 

Lehrmann wore a navy suit, brown RM Williams boots and took notes throughout the day. 

ACT Supreme Court Chief Justice Lucy McCallum impaneled 16 jury members on Tuesday and reminded them to ignore media reporting on the case, which she said had taken on momentum of its own and become a cause célèbre. 

The trial continues.