Brittany Higgins was “right to be scared” by the “strong political forces” that were swirling around her as she considered whether to proceed with a complaint about her alleged rape in Parliament House, the prosecution says.
The evidence in the ACT supreme court trial of Bruce Lehrmann concluded early on Tuesday, after the Crown closed its case. The defence did not call any witnesses.
In his closing submissions, ACT director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC asked the jury to consider why Higgins had initially chosen not to make a complaint as the 2019 election loomed, when she was working for the then defence industry minister Linda Reynolds.
“She was faced with a fork in the road between her employment and making this complaint,” Drumgold said. “That is what she was faced with.”
Drumgold said it was clear that there were strong political forces still at play almost two years later, in 2021, when she decided to reinstate the complaint and resign from the office of senator Michaelia Cash.
He said the actions of Reynolds – who on Monday denied attempting to “coach” the defence during Higgins’ cross-examination – also made it “abundantly clear” that those political forces were still a factor.
Drumgold said Higgins had also been concerned about comments by the then home affairs minister, Peter Dutton, who appeared to have information that had not yet been made public.
He said Higgins held fears about the “information flow” from police about her allegations.
“It’s clear, I say … that this is a young lady in the middle of strong political forces, and we say she was right to be scared,” Drumgold said. “She was right to be cautious and we say she was right to move slowly and carefully in handing her life over to the police.”
Defence barrister Steven Whybrow, in his closing address, told the jury that Higgins had been in a “pretty embarrassing” situation after being found naked in her minister’s office after a night of drinking. Whybrow said it was something that was “not good for your CV”.
“Is there a reasonable possibility that this complaint is being made because her dream job is, from her perspective, in jeopardy?” he said.
Whybrow suggested she woke up at 8am then waited until 10am to leave, putting a jacket over her dress, and had kept her head down and hoped “nobody noticed”.
The court has heard Higgins messaged a parliamentary security guard later that day. She later deleted those messages before handing her phone to police.
Whybrow said Higgins had normal interactions with Lehrmann when they returned to work, pointing to work emails between the pair.
He said Higgins has explained that she was traumatised and still processing what had happened to her.
“But in this case, as I will submit to you, that’s the fallback position for Ms Higgins, every time when she’s asked a hard question or caught out by something,” Whybrow said.
“You might consider that they’re talking points that she’s spouting every time the going gets tough.”
Earlier, Drumgold pointed to the multiple and untrue reasons Lehrmann had given for the early morning visit to parliament with Higgins on 23 March 2019.
He said the true reason for the visit was that he had either wanted to continue partying after a night out at Canberra bars, or that parliament was the easiest way to get Higgins alone.
“[It was] most convenient place to get the then very drunk and vulnerable complainant alone … possibly with the hope that she would either not resist or not remember,” Drumgold said.
Lehrmann had told parliamentary security on the night that he and Higgins had been “requested to pick up some documents”, the court heard, despite later telling Reynolds that he had never suggested he was operating with her authority.
He also later told police that he was there to pick up keys and mark some question time briefs.
It was not a sitting week and the court has heard evidence that there was no urgency for Lehrmann to work on the question time briefs.
“Stand back and remember this is 1.40am on a Saturday morning,” Drumgold said.
In response, Whybrow said it was natural to have told police he was at parliament to work, not drink, given they were investigating an alleged rape.
He showed the jury CCTV of Lehrmann passing through parliament security, which he said showed he did not have keys with him.
Drumgold said the evidence showed that Higgins had given a consistent version of events for more than three years, from the days after the alleged rape, to her evidence in court.
She had made complaints to nine people over 16 days.
There were no inconsistencies in her complaints about the alleged rape, from the complaints she made to her then chief of staff Fiona Brown, minister Linda Reynolds, friends, colleagues, and family, the prosecution said.
“We submit she did not falter,” Drumgold said.
He told the jury the essence of the case was whether Higgins had fabricated her version of events.
“If this is a fabrication, she’s also quite the actor,” he said. “She appears to have supported it with consistent performances of emotion, ranging from being upset, being extremely upset, and being broken.”
But Whybrow pointed to Higgins’ repeated assertion to police, her ex-boyfriend Ben Dillaway, and her boss Fiona Brown that she had either already been to the doctor following the alleged rape, and was awaiting results, or was about to go to the doctor.
The court has heard there was no record of her going to the doctor.
“That was something that Ms Higgins told to the police to make it sound more believable that she had been sexually assaulted, she said it to Ms Brown to make it more believable that she had been sexually assaulted.”
He also took the jury to Higgins’ evidence that she had kept the dress from that night untouched and uncleaned under her bed for six months.
When shown photos of her wearing the dress at an event for Reynolds’ birthday, Higgins conceded that she was wrong and that she had washed it and worn it once.
“We’ve got a number of assertions to the prosecutor from the person that he described to you before lunch as genuine, upfront and honest, who makes concessions, who doesn’t say things she’s unsure about, she says ‘six months, untouched, uncleaned’,” Whybrow said.
Drumgold said there was no evidence that Higgins’ job was ever under threat.
“We say the suggestion of this motive to make up a false allegation must simply be rejected,” he said. “It needs to be based on evidence, there is no evidence.”
Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual intercourse without consent.
