Bruce Lehrmann’s former colleagues give evidence to court
Former staffers who worked with Bruce Lehrmann and Brittany Higgins have told the Federal Court Ms Higgins told several people she'd been raped at parliament house in the days after the alleged assault but was reluctant to report it. Mr Lehrmann is suing network ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson over a February 2021 interview during which Ms Higgins first made her allegation public.
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00:00 Witnesses today included a security guard who says she found Ms Higgins naked on the couch in Senator Linda Reynolds office in the early hours of the morning.
00:12 Mr Lehrman was tried for the alleged sexual assault last year, but the trial was abandoned with no findings against him.
00:20 A former colleague of the pair in Linda Reynolds office, Major Nikita Irvine, told the court she had bad vibes from Mr Lehrman and wouldn't socialise with him.
00:31 Major Irvine said soon after the alleged assault Ms Higgins confided in her and she in turn mentioned it to both Senator Reynolds and Chief of Staff Fiona Brown in the following days out of concern for Ms Higgins.
00:45 Ms Higgins' former boyfriend Ben Dilloway also described her sobbing in his arms, appearing broken, after telling him about the alleged assault later in the week.
00:56 He said she had been insistent she didn't want anyone to know.
01:00 It's also been revealed Bruce Lehrman has received more than $400,000 to help with his legal bills in two settlements with the ABC and Newslife Media.
01:11 The ABC paid $143,000 and Newslife Media $295,000.
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