Linda Reynolds ‘pleased to hear’ Brittany Higgins made rape complaint to police, defamation trial proceeds | Defamation Law (Australia)

Linda Reynolds has told a defamation trial she was “a bit shocked” after being informed by the Australian Federal Police that her junior staff member had filed a sexual assault complaint over an incident that allegedly took place in her ministerial office.

Reynolds, a Liberal senator from Western Australia, is suing Brittany Higgins over a series of social media posts made in July 2023 that she says damaged her reputation.

On Tuesday, Reynolds told the Western Australian Supreme Court she met with AFP Assistant Commissioner Leanne Close on Thursday, April 4, 2019, in her office, where Reynolds claims she was first informed of Higgins’ alleged rape.

“I was a little shocked… I was glad to hear that Brittany had brought it up,” Reynolds said.

Reynolds then sent a letter to her then-employee Bruce Lehrmann, who allegedly raped Higgins in Parliament House in March 2019. Reynolds said at the time she was in the process of firing Lehrmann over a previous security incident.

The letter, presented to the court, said the minister was “considering terminating (Lehrmann’s) employment on the grounds of serious misconduct” and expected a response by 4pm on Friday 5 April.

Lehrmann responded that he felt “embarrassed, ashamed and deeply sorry” about the security breach and had “not apologised”. He added that Reynolds had been his sixth boss while working in parliament but that he remained “the best”.

Lehrmann was officially fired from Reynolds’ office on Friday, April 5.

Earlier Tuesday, Reynolds’ attorney Martin Bennett began Tuesday’s hearing by attempting to subpoena some of Higgins’ communications stemming from a social media post she shared Monday afternoon while Reynolds was testifying.

Higgins’ Instagram story shared a post from Julian Assange’s lawyer Jennifer Robinson promoting her latest book, How Many More Women? How the Law Silences Women. Higgins’ post included the words “Relevant Reading.”

Bennett said Monday that this was “extremely aggravating conduct” by Higgins.

On Tuesday, Bennett said it was another attempt by Higgins to “misrepresent the nature of these proceedings” and portray Reynolds as someone “seeking to silence” survivors of sexual assault.

“We don’t see this as a coincidence,” Bennett said.

Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young SC, said the defence denied the charge but still needed time to consider the subpoena, which the defence team said they received on Tuesday morning.

The judge postponed the decision until the end of the day.

Reynolds is expected to be cross-examined Thursday.

Young said she will seek to prove that Reynolds knew about Higgins’ alleged rape before April 1, 2019, and that allegations that Higgins and her current husband, David Sharaz, concocted a plot to harm her reputation are false.