More witnesses have given evidence in the Lehrmann v Network Ten defamation trial, including the security guards at Parliament House, who saw Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann on the night of 22 March 2019.
Other key witnesses, including former aide de camp Nikita Irvine and Brittany Higgins’ former boyfriend Ben Dillaway, also told the court their version of events of the night of the alleged rape.
Women’s Agenda is covering the Lehrmann v Network Ten defamation trial as it happens, with former Liberal staffer Bruce Lehrmann accusing Lisa Wilkinson and The Project of defamation. The case is in reference to an interview between Wilkinson and Brittany Higgins, who accused Lehrmann of raping her inside Parliament House in March 2019.
Here’s what we learned in today’s proceedings.
Content warning: This article contains references to rape and sexual assault.
Security staff
The first witness on Thursday’s hearing in the Federal Court of Australia was Nikola Anderson, a former security guard at Parliament House.
In 2021, Nikola Anderson gave an interview to the ABC’s current affairs program Four Corners. She was the security guard that found Brittany Higgins “naked” in the ministerial suite the night of the alleged rape.
In her evidence in court on Thursday, Anderson described what she did when she entered the ministerial suite at approximately 4:20am.
Anderson: “I started announcing myself as soon as I walked in through the reception, the very main doors of the office, so throughout that walk.”
Anderson then said she found Brittany Higgins “completely naked” and she had “rolled over into the foetal position”.
After Anderson left the witness box, Mark Fairweather was the next witness. He was also working in security on the night of the alleged rape in March 2019. Fairweather filed an incident report in regards to that night on 24 March.
On judging Higgins’ and Lehrmann’s levels of intoxication, Fairweather, who has previously worked as a security guard at hospitality venues including night clubs, said he “would have refused entry” if he believed the pair were too intoxicated to enter Parliament House. He said it was his “duty of care”.
Fairweather agreed that Lehrmann left Parliament House “hastily”.
Nikita Irvine
Major Nikita Irvine was the third witness to take the stand. She attended the Dock Hotel on 22 March 2019 and gave her recollection of events, as well as what followed after the night of the alleged rape.
Irvine also passed a judgement on how she felt about Bruce Lehrmann at the time. Although they had a working relationship, Irvine said she got “bad vibes” from him.
Irvine: “When I started at the office, I had bad vibes from Bruce.”
Dr Matt Collins KC (Network Ten lawyer): “Explain what you mean by bad vibes.”
Irvine: “It’s women’s intuition, Dr Collins. I just didn’t want to spend time with him.”
Irvine didn’t notice anything between Lehrmann and Higgins at the Dock Hotel, the court heard. However, the following day, Lauren Gain had told Irvine that “Bruce and Brittany hooked up”. Irvine told the court that she took that as they had kissed, but not had sex.
Later that week, Irvine and Higgins had gone for a walk in Parliament House together, when Higgins disclosed the alleged rape to Irvine.
She recalled two more conversations with Higgins regarding the alleged assault, apart from the walk in Parliament House. In the third and final conversation she had, in WA, Higgins told Irvine: “I’ve made my decision, and I just need to be comfortable with it.” Irvine did not bring up the alleged rape with Higgins after that conversation.
In cross-examination, Steve Whybrow SC, Lehrmann’s lawyer, mentioned Lauren Gain believing Higgins’ allegations.
Whybrow: “Is that your attitude as well?”
Irvine: “Do I believe Brittany? Yes.”
Ben Dillaway
Higgins’ former boyfriend, Ben Dillaway, was next in the witness box. Although he was not there on the night of the alleged rape, most of his evidence came from hundreds of text message exchanges between him and Higgins, as well as his recollections of phone calls with her.
On the night of 22 March 2019, Dillaway recalled receiving a missed call from Higgins. He then messaged her asking her to call him back while he was driving from the Gold Coast to Orange in rural NSW.
In her initial retelling of the night, Higgins told Dillaway that they had “brought the party back to Parliament House”, according to Dillaway’s evidence.
It was in later conversations, however, that Higgins said the night did not unfold how she had originally indicated.
Dillaway said he had asked her in a phone call if she was raped, to which she broke down in tears and quickly hung up the phone.
From their interactions regarding the alleged rape, Dillaway understood that Higgins did not want the information out there for others to know. He said that Higgins did not want to be known as “the girl who was raped in Parliament”.
Dillaway: “That was her greatest desire. She didn’t want a soul to know about it.” Dillaway was of the opinion that Higgins had “nothing to fear” about losing her job by reporting the alleged rape to the police.
When Steve Whybrow SC rose for cross-examination, he suggested to Dillaway that the first he had heard about Higgins’ bruise on her leg was when it was shown on The Project in February 2021.
Dillaway did not recall “discussing a bruise with Brittany” in the days following the alleged rape, when she visited him in her hotel room.
In Higgins’ evidence, she said she was unsure whether she had attained the bruise from Lehrmann allegedly raping her or from falling down in the club the same night.
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