What we heard today
Brittany Higgins returned to the witness box on Thursday afternoon in the defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
It was an at-times emotional and heated afternoon, with Higgins pushing back during cross-examination by Steve Whybrow SC.
Just a reminder: The case is over an interview aired on Ten’s The Project, in which Higgins alleged she was raped by a Liberal staffer in Parliament House. Network Ten and Wilkinson are defending the case.
Bruce Lehrmann has denied raping Higgins and pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual intercourse without consent. His criminal trial was abandoned due to juror misconduct and the second did not proceed due to prosecutors’ fears for Higgins’ mental health.
Here’s what we heard on Thursday afternoon at the defamation case:
Whybrow, who also cross-examined Higgins at the criminal trial, suggested to Higgins that she lied about being raped to save her job after she was found passed out in the minister’s personal suite. Higgins said that was “insulting and it’s incorrect” and said her job was “not that important”.
Higgins admitted lying to police about seeing a doctor, and said it was because she was embarrassed that she had not, and that days after the alleged assault, a rape kit would not be of much use.
Whybrow put to Higgins that she told police that she had drunk about four gin and tonics despite telling the court that she was only having vodka, lime and soda, or Diet Coke and vodka. Higgins said she didn’t think the gin and tonics thing was true, and said she thought police made a mistake as she doesn’t really drink tonic water due to the calories in it.
Higgins passionately defended herself from accusations that she was inconsistent about whether she was naked or her dress was around her waist. “As I was being raped, it wasn’t my primary concern where my dress was … I was deeply more concerned about the penis in my vagina that I didn’t want than I was about my dress,” she told the court.
Higgins said she got elements of her story wrong about the morning after the alleged assault, saying: “In those moments of trauma, my memory wasn’t perfect.”
Higgins is due to continue being cross-examined on Friday. Read our full wrap of Thursday’s proceedings below.
Updated
Higgins says she would 'never intentionally give false evidence, especially in this context'
The court has adjourned for the day after a session which saw Brittany Higgins refuting suggestions by Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister, Steve Whybrow, that she gave false evidence at the criminal trial in the ACT last year.
Whybrow put it to her that her account of events at Lehrmann’s trial differed from testimony she has given to the federal court in this defamation trial.
Whybrow: “And what I’m suggesting to you is that you intentionally gave false evidence to try and explain away a damning email that is inconsistent with your claims that you were sexually assaulted by Mr Lehrmann.”
Higgins: “I would never intentionally give false evidence, especially in this context.”
Higgins said her answers may have varied as to times and dates because memory is imperfect and she was traumatised.
One discrepancy she was questioned about was an email she sent to Lehrmann after the alleged rape and on the day he was fired asking for his help with a work task.
Higgins said she sent the email with the phrase “I am phoning a friend” because she was “in denial” about the alleged rape and she was just doing her job.
Updated
