What we heard today
Today the court continued hearing evidence from The Project producer Angus Llewellyn.
The federal court also uploaded a number of exhibits, revealing texts and emails in the lead up to Brittany Higgins’ interview with the The Project being broadcast.
Here’s what we heard from Llewellyn:
Lehrmann’s barrister Matthew Richardson SC accused Llewellyn of giving Bruce Lehrmann “absolutely minimal time” to respond to Higgins’ accusations. Llewellyn disagreed, saying “I sent him a very detailed request on the Friday and asked for an interview”. Richardson also accused him of not making a “genuine effort to obtain information”, which Llewellyn said was “incorrect”;
Llewellyn received a call from Andrew Carswell, a media advisor for the then prime minister Scott Morrison’s office, to discuss a response to the program on the night before it was broadcast, the court heard. He said a text supplied by the office was “not inconsistent” with what Higgins had told him;
Llewellyn was questioned over whether he believed that CCTV footage from the night of the alleged incident was unavailable to police.
And here’s what we saw in the exhibits:
The Instagram post from the night Higgins’ mother, Kelly, was told about the alleged rape;
An email Higgins sent to the AFP before The Project interview aired in which she asked to review or have a copy of the original case file;
An email Higgins’ fiance David Sharaz sent to Lisa Wilkinson shows him saying: “We just don’t know who might be keeping a close eye” on Higgins.
Read about what we heard this morning here.
The trial will continue tomorrow when Lisa Wilkinson is due to give evidence.
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Lisa Wilkinson to give evidence tomorrow
The court has adjourned until 10.15am on Wednesday. Justice Lee said the matter of the Sky News covert recording may be dealt with first thing in the morning before Lisa Wilkinson enters the witness box.
The recording of Brittany Higgins’ lawyer speaking to Higgins’ fiance, David Sharaz, at a Sydney bar was subject to a subpoena and handed to the court yesterday.
The recordings were taken of Leon 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 Lehrmann’s defamation trial.
There is no suggestion Higgins was present during the Park Hyatt conversation or that she received advice relating to the topics discussed.
Wilkinson is expected to give evidence for two full days.
The court heard that a transcript of the covert recording is not yet ready to put before the court.
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