What we heard in court today
Today Lisa Wilkinson gave evidence in court about how she first heard Brittany Higgins story – and the process she and The Project team took to report it.
Here’s what we heard from her this afternoon – to read the full run-down of what she said this morning, click here.
Wilkinson was cross-examined about the apparent contradiction between her belief there had been a systemic cover up by the government, and statements by Reynolds and Brown that they would support Higgins if she went to police. Justice Lee intervened to ask: “Do you think it’s consistent with the ‘systemic cover-up of a rape allegation’ for someone to escort someone to an AFP office?” Wilkinson did not answer the question directly but said the AFP officers were not trained in dealing with sexual assault victims and were the wrong people to take Higgins to.
At one point during cross examination, Wilkinson said: “I feel we investigated this story extremely well”.
Wilkinson was also asked to identify in the script of the broadcast what the “roadblocks to the police investigation” were. Richardson put to Wilkinson that the roadblocks she had identified were before the police investigation had begun.
Wilkinson denied a suggestion from Lehrmann’s barrister that she was “coaching” Higgins before the interview and that it was “inappropriate conduct for a journalist”.
The trial resumes again tomorrow.
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Court finishes for the day
The hearing has ended for the day and Wilkinson will return to the witness box on Friday morning. Richardson said he had an estimated 90 minutes of cross-examination left to make.
The transcript of the covert Sky News recording of Higgins’ lawyer Leon Zwier speaking to her fiance, David Sharaz, has not yet been produced, the court heard earlier today.
There was no update by the end of the day.
The recordings were taken of Zwier and others at the Park Hyatt Lobby Bar on 4 December and reportedly revealed the lawyer discussing how Higgins could respond to questions in cross-examination in the trial.
Zwier has denied coaching his client through her fiance, and told news.com.au in a statement that his remarks were not intended to be passed on to Higgins.
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