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- Watch the hearing live here from noon (AEDT)
The former chief of staff to then defence industry minister Linda Reynolds returns to the Federal Court witness box on Tuesday after giving evidence in Bruce Lehrmann’s defamation case that it had entered her mind at one stage that Brittany Higgins may have been sexually assaulted.
Fiona Brown, who was chief of staff to the Liberal senator in March 2019, started giving evidence in Sydney on Monday in Lehrmann’s defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson.
Bruce Lehrmann outside the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
Lehrmann is suing Ten and Wilkinson over an interview with Higgins, broadcast on The Project on February 15, 2021, that he alleges defames him by suggesting he is guilty of raping Higgins in Reynolds’ office in Parliament House on March 23, 2019.
Both Higgins and Lehrmann worked as advisers to Reynolds in 2019. Lehrmann has denied raping Higgins and has told the Federal Court there was no sexual contact between the pair at all.
‘Antenna went up’
On Monday, Brown gave evidence that her “antenna went up” after Lehrmann told her at a meeting on March 26, 2019, he came back to Parliament House in the early hours of Saturday, March 23 to drink whisky.
She had been told that Higgins had been found naked that morning in the minister’s office, Brown told the court.
Asked if she had suspected Lehrmann and Higgins had had sex, Brown said she thought it was possible. She agreed under cross-examination by Wilkinson’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, SC, that it had entered her mind that Higgins may have been sexually assaulted.
Brown told the court she couldn’t rule it in and couldn’t rule it out.
She denied that Higgins told her during a meeting on March 26, after her meeting with Lehrmann, that she had woken up early on March 23 in Reynolds’ office and Lehrmann had been “on top of me”.
Brown said Higgins had told her at a meeting two days later: “I remember him being on top of me.” However, Brown said that Higgins had not said it was something she didn’t want.
Brown is expected to conclude her evidence on Tuesday morning.
Expert lip-reader
Ten has flown the UK-based lip-reader Tim Reedy to Sydney to give evidence as part of its defence, and he will be cross-examined on Tuesday.
Federal Court Justice Michael Lee ruled this month that Ten could tender a report in which Reedy expresses an opinion on words spoken by Lehrmann and Higgins at The Dock on March 22, 2019. Reedy’s opinion is based on an analysis of CCTV footage from The Dock.
The judge made clear that his ruling allowing the report to be admitted in evidence was not an indication of the weight he would ultimately place on the opinions expressed in it.
Lehrmann not named
Lehrmann was not named in Ten’s interview and a preliminary issue in the case is whether he was identified because of the details provided in the broadcast, including the fact that the alleged perpetrator had worked in Reynolds’ office.
Brittany Higgins leaves the Federal Court in Sydney on December 1.Credit: James Brickwood
If the court finds Lehrmann was identified in the interview, Ten and Wilkinson are seeking to rely on defences of truth and qualified privilege. Qualified privilege is a defence relating to publications of public interest, which requires a media outlet to show it has acted reasonably.
Sexual assault charge dropped
Lehrmann’s ACT Supreme Court trial for sexual assault was aborted last year due to juror misconduct. The charge against Lehrmann was later dropped altogether owing to concerns about Higgins’ mental health.
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