Lehrmann proceedings day 13 – as it happened
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What we heard today
Both Brittany Higgins’ mother and father gave evidence this afternoon in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case against Network Ten.
Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson for defamation over an interview with Higgins broadcast on The Project and online which did not name him but alleged she had been raped by a Liberal staffer in March 2019.
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 this afternoon:
Kelly Higgins, Brittany Higgins’ mother, described her daughter as “vivacious” and “loving life”. But she noticed a marked change in her daughter’s personality in late March and early April 2019, when Brittany became “very withdrawn” and seemed “extremely detached”;
Kelly said her daughter eventually disclosed to her and her former partner at dinner in November that she had been raped. Kelly said she had “just been told a mother’s worst nightmare” and wanted to know why nobody helped her;
Under cross-examination, Lehrmann’s barrister, Steve Whybrow SC, put to Kelly that her daughter did not disclose that information at the Gold Coast restaurant. Kelly replied: “You’re incorrect”;
Matthew Higgins, Brittany Higgins’ father, said his daughter didn’t seem herself when he visited her shortly after the alleged rape, saying “I couldn’t recognise my daughter”. He told the court Brittany disclosed the rape to him in a phone call about a year later, but did not go into detail as she was “probably looking out for me a bit”.
To read a run down of what we heard this morning, click here. Court will resume again on Tuesday morning.
Updated at 01.09 EST
Court hears lip-reading expert who is due to give evidence will require an interpreter
The court has adjourned for the day after some legal argument about upcoming witnesses and affidavits.
The lip-reading expert, Tim Reedy, will need to be flown to Sydney from the UK and will require an interpreter, Lee heard.
Lee said this is an “unusual situation” and Reedy’s requiring an interpreter – because he is profoundly deaf – may affect the “weight” he gives to his evidence.
“This is the first I’ve heard that the gentleman requires an interpreter to give his evidence, which I must say, I want to see how that works, because it seems to me rationally affecting the weight I would give to his video evidence as my very clear impression of how quickly and well he picks up on his interlocutor speaking to him.”
The court will sit at 10.15am on Tuesday.
Updated at 00.34 EST
Brittany Higgins’ father: ‘I couldn’t recognise my daughter’
Brittany Higgins’ father, Matthew Higgins, has given emotional testimony to the court.
Higgins said his daughter didn’t seem herself when he visited her in Canberra shortly after the alleged rape in 2019.
“She was absolutely quiet, quiet and withdrawn,” Higgins said. “So I couldn’t recognise my daughter. She was like, usually she’s like really positive, happy, vivacious sort of a young girl always trying to do stuff and was smart.”
Brittany disclosed the rape to him in a phone call about a year later.
Brittany told him in that phone call that the “inappropriate” behaviour she had experienced in Canberra was a rape. She did not go into detail because he believed she was “probably looking out for me a bit”.
Matthew said he was feeling very emotional giving his evidence and he does not remember specific dates.
Bruce Lehrmann’s barrister, Steve Whybrow SC, suggested he did see Brittany more than he was claiming: “I suggest to that you did see her that morning and you went to Parliament House and you walked around the lake?
“And you went to Mount Ainslie and things like that on the morning of the Saturday that you arrived there?
Matthew replied: “But that’s later. I am a surfer. I get up at 5.45 in the morning.”
After that emotional outburst, Justice Michael Lee asked Matthew to leave the court and he asked Whybrow if he could not cut short his cross-examination because the witness was emotional.
“Mr Higgins is one, pretty emotional and secondly, I don’t think he’s holding himself out as a particularly precise historian of events,” Lee said.
Matthew also said he did not watch his daughter’s interview on The Project.
Updated at 00.25 EST
Higgins’ mother cross-examined about hearing that her daughter had allegedly been assaulted
Kelly is being cross-examined by Lehrmann’s barrister, Steve Whybrow SC, about her affidavit. He asked Kelly when her daughter disclosed the alleged rape to her.
Whybrow is asking Kelly to recount what Brittany said on the night at the Gold Coast restaurant and is showing her a series of photographs she took and posted on Instagram.
Whybrow asked Kelly why she asked her daughter why no one called an ambulance if her daughter did not tell anyone she had been assaulted.
Kelly said Brittany did not tell her on that occasion about the security guard who saw her asleep in the minister’s suite.
Whybrow asked: “Everything she told you was inconsistent with anybody having known that it occurred?”
Kelly replied: “When your daughter tells you she’s been raped, all you think about is why didn’t somebody help her?”
Whybrow then asked: “And just so you understand, Ms Higgins, I am putting to you that your daughter did not make the disclosures you referred to that evening at that venue?”
Kelly replied: “You’re incorrect.”
Kelly Higgins, mother of Brittany Higgins, outside the federal court of Australia in Sydney on Monday. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP
Updated at 23.27 EST
Brittany Higgins’ mother: ‘I had just been told a mother’s worst nightmare’
Kelly Higgins said her daughter Brittany Higgins eventually disclosed to her and her former partner at a dinner in a Gold Coast restaurant in November that she had been raped.
Kelly recounted what Brittany told her happened after a night out: “She recalls going inside the minister’s suite.
“She was extremely intoxicated and felt unwell. The next thing she remembers she was on the lounge and she believes she passed out she was awakened with pressure and pain on her leg and when she was coherent Bruce Lehrmann was on top of her raping her.”
Kelly said Brittany told them she didn’t want to talk about it any more and she would not tell them the name of the man involved.
“She said she didn’t want to talk about it any more,” Kelly said. “I of course, I had just been told a mother’s worst nightmare.”
Kelly said she did have questions for Brittany such as why no one helped her, and she continued to ask her.
“I wanted to know why nobody helped her,” Kelly said. “I wanted to know why nobody called an ambulance and got her to a hospital.”
Kelly said Brittany said: “There was no one to help me.”
Updated at 23.13 EST
Higgins’ mother says her daughter was ‘very withdrawn’ and ‘extremely detached’ after alleged rape
Kelly Higgins has told the court she noticed a marked change in her daughter’s personality in late March and early April 2019, although it took a while for her daughter to disclose to her what was wrong.
Brittany Higgins alleges that Bruce Lehrmann raped her in March 2019 in Parliament House. 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.
“Brittany became very withdrawn,” Kelly said.
“She wasn’t communicating as frequently.
“She seemed extremely detached.
“She didn’t have joy and enthusiasm when you communicated with her.”
Kelly said Brittany became non-communicative and despondent.
“She was just despondent and she was not her normal personality. She wasn’t joyous. She wasn’t wanting to communicate at all. Like I got the sense as her mum something was wrong.”
Updated at 23.22 EST
Higgins’ mother begins giving evidence
Kelly May Higgins, Brittany Higgins’s mother, is the first witness after the lunch break.
“Brittany had an incredible capacity to do anything,” Higgins said of her daughter’s personality. “She was very active. She was very physical. When she was studying her degrees, she would volunteer.
“She travelled, she did some incredible things. She had a vivacious personality, and she was loving her life and was very independent, very capable.”
After Brittany moved to Canberra in the second half of 2018, she stayed in contact with her mother largely through social media and she was really enjoying her job, the federal court heard.
Updated at 22.28 EST
Here are the two AFP officers who have given evidence today, Rebecca Cleaves and Katie Thelning, leaving court:
Australian federal police (AFP) agents Rebecca Cleaves (left), and Katie Thelning depart the federal court of Australia in Sydney. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP
Updated at 22.10 EST
What we heard this morning
It has been a morning of at-times graphic evidence in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation trial against Network Ten.
Lehrmann is suing Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson for defamation over an interview with Higgins broadcast on The Project and online which did not name him but alleged she had been raped by a Liberal staffer in 2019.
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’ve heard so far this morning:
Federal police officer Rebecca Cleaves said she met Higgins in the basement of Parliament House to discuss what a superior had told her was a “sensitive matter” of a sexual nature. In the half-hour meeting, Cleaves said Higgins told her she remembered saying “no” or “don’t”, and remembered waking up with the “smell of sex” and “vomit stains all down dress”;
Cleaves also detailed what she wrote in her notes when she watched the CCTV footage of Lehrmann and Higgins in Parliament House, saying Lehrmann seemed “relatively sober”. Higgins was also able to “stand and walk independently”, she said;
Federal agent Katie Thelning also described the meeting she had with Cleaves and Higgins, saying Higgins said she felt “grossed out” as she could smell what had happened. Thelning also said she received an email from Higgins asking if she could have a copy of her case file “before I make that final decision” to proceed with making a formal statement. Thelning said she had no experience of a complainant asking for a copy of her case file before deciding whether to go ahead with a formal complaint;
Former defence liaison officer Christopher Payne said he saw Higgins walking past his office during the week after the alleged incident looking “very upset” and asked if he could ask her a “very direct question”. Payne then asked Higgins “did he rape you?”. “And her response was ‘I could not have consented it would have been like fucking a log’,” Payne said.
The evidence will continue this afternoon.
Updated at 22.10 EST
Court adjourned
Payne’s evidence is over and the court has adjourned for lunch until 2.15pm.
The afternoon session will hear from Brittany Higgins’ parents and her father’s partner.
Updated at 22.11 EST