Senator’s partner to give evidence in trial
Written by admin on August 12, 2024
Senator Linda Reynolds has finished giving evidence in her blockbuster defamation trial against Brittany Higgins, with her husband expected to be next up at the witness stand.
The WA politician spent a week in the witness box and faced intense questioning from Ms Higgins’ lawyer Rachel Young over what she knew about Ms Higgins’ alleged sexual assault in the senator’s ministerial office.
Senator Reynolds is suing Ms Higgins and her husband David Sharaz in the WA Supreme Court over posts shared 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 pleaded not guilty to rape and faced trial in 2022, but the trial was aborted due to juror misconduct.
The charge was dropped and Mr Lehrmann continues to maintain his innocence.
Senator Reynolds maintained in court last week she had no knowledge Ms Higgins had been sexually assaulted after she received a Department of Parliamentary Services report days after the security breach in her office.
The court was told the report contained information that Ms Higgins was found in the senator’s office undressed, intoxicated and had been checked on by two female security officers during the night.
The senator told the court there were many possibilities about what could have occurred between two drunk people in their 20s and she had not wanted to jump to conclusions.
Outside of the David Malcolm Justice Centre in Perth on Friday, the senator said she was grateful to the court for the opportunity to provide her evidence so she could head back to Parliament.
“I am relieved I can get back to work,” she said.
This week the trial will hear from the senator’s partner Robert Reid, former Prime Minister Scott Morrison, and people who worked with Ms Higgins and the senator during the 2019 Federal Election campaign in Perth including members of the Senator Reynolds’ family.
Brittany Higgins will start giving her evidence from August 26, marking the third time she gives evidence in a trial following her complaint to the Australian Federal Police in 2019.
The trial continues.
