Senator Reynolds to take stand in battle with Higgins

Senator Linda Reynolds is expected to take the stand on the second day of a blockbuster defamation trial against her former staffer, Brittany Higgins.

Ms Higgins and her husband David Sharaz are being sued by Senator Reynolds in the WA Supreme Court after failed mediation hearings.

The couple shared posts in 2022 and 2023 which were critical of Ms Reynolds’ handling of Ms Higgins’ allegation she was raped in Parliament House in 2019 by her then-colleague Bruce Lehrmann.

Mr Lehrmann was charged with sexual assault and faced trial in 2022, but the trial was aborted due to juror misconduct.

The Director of Public Prosecutions decided not to pursue a retrial and dropped the charge against Mr Lehrmann, who has continued to maintain his innocence.

Ms Higgins’ defence team will deliver their opening statement about 12.30pm AEST in response to the senator’s claims that Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz’s social media posts suggested Ms Reynolds had engaged in a campaign of harassment towards Ms Higgins.

The legal team will also address the senator’s allegations the social media posts conveyed she failed to support Ms Higgins after the rape allegation, wanted to silence victims of sexual assault, and that she had engaged in questionable conduct during Mr Lehrmann’s trial.

Defending Ms Higgins is senior counsel Rachel Young, an accomplished barrister who has worked on multiple high profile cases in Perth.

Ms Higgins’ lawyers will argue the social media posts about the senator were substantially true, and that she was sharing her opinion on “a matter of public interest”.

Ms Higgins claims in documents released by the WA Supreme Court that Senator Reynolds had shared “confidential correspondence” with media which included an internal government departmental email marked “sensitive: personal” relating to the multi million-dollar payout Ms Higgins received in compensation following the alleged rape.

The former political staffer also claims the senator engaged in a “campaign of harassment” against her by providing the “confidential information to the media” regarding mediation and complaints to the Commonwealth, as well as “directly or indirectly” questioning her personal injury claim against the Commonwealth.

Senator Reynolds is expected to take the stand after the opening statement from Ms Higgins’ legal team.

On Friday, the court was told that Senator Reynolds had been cast as the villain in a fairy tale created by Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz.

“Every fairy tale needs a villain,” the senator’s lawyer Martin Bennett said in his opening statement to the court.

“Their fictional story involved allegations of cruel treatment, ostracization, bullying, harassment and threatening conduct.

“She was cast in this critical light and none of it was true.”

The court was shown several photos of Ms Higgins while she worked for the senator in Perth – a time Ms Higgins claimed she felt ostracised and confined to her hotel room.

Ms Higgins could be seen campaigning with fellow Liberal staffers, socialising with colleagues, and sitting next to the senator during a birthday dinner after her re-election in 2019.

The court was shown text messages sent by Ms Higgins at that time in which she stated her “day has been awesome, mostly spent poolside.”

Another text message revealed Ms Higgins had shared a “solid chat” with her boss and that the senator had bought everyone dinner.

“This is awesome,” she said in a message.

Mr Bennett said Ms Higgins did not appear to be anything but a young, vivacious door knocker campaigning with her colleagues.

“It’s event after event after event, all of which could have been provided to the Commonwealth to confirm statements made by Ms Higgins were false,” he said.

“This is not a woman in a hotel room seven days a week ostracised, this is a young woman going out and enjoying it.”