‘Nothing was fine after what you did to me’: Brittany Higgins confronts rape accused in Canberra court

Brittany Higgins confronted her accused rapist, Bruce Lehrmann, in a courtroom on Friday and said “nothing was fine after what you did to me”. Higgins has alleged she was raped in the Parliament House in the early hours of March 23, 2019. Higgins was cross-examined on Friday morning by defence barrister Steven Whybrow who asked her about the days after the alleged rape happened.

Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty and is fighting one charge of sexual intercourse without consent. Whybrow told Higgins that Lehrmann had not raped her, and that he wasn't in the minister’s office. Higgins broke down after this and said, “He was in there. He was physically violating me.”

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Whybrow also said that Higgins had “completely cordial and normal” email exchanges with Lehrmann in the days after her alleged rape. To which she replied, "I wouldn’t say normal, I think after a trauma you go through a sort of strange holding period of an extended freeze, I guess.”

“But yeah, I was trying to maintain calm because he had a higher station in the office than me. I was just trying to hold on… I was scared.”

Whybrow also pointed out to Higgins that she fabricated the entire thing to save her job because she was at the parliament late night. Higgins denied the allegation saying, "You are asserting to me that I completely fabricated this, just to keep a job."

To which Whybrow said that she didn't even file a police complaint as she had been able to save her job. Higgins said the reason behind it was that she was pressured not to do so by her superiors, including her then-minister Linda Reynolds.

Whybrow also put it to Higgins that her behaviour was completely normal in the days after the alleged rape, since nothing had actually happened. Higgins responded by saying, "I know that’s what you think. I don’t accept it at all."

Whybrow suggested that she brought forward rape allegations when she realised her dream job was under threat.

Higgins then directly addressed Lehrmann for the first time during her evidence.

“Up until then I was holding it in, holding it in, holding it in, pretending like everything was fine,” she said. “Nothing was fine, nothing was fine after what you did to me.”

(With inputs from agencies)