More than 15,000 Australians have been watching Brittany Higgins take the stand live on YouTube for the Bruce Lehrmann v Network Ten trial.
Warning: GRAPHIC
The case is currently being streamed on the Federal Court of Australia’s channel page.
Lehrmann is suing both Network Ten and Lisa Wilkinson after The Project aired an interview with Higgins on February 15, 2021 in which it was claimed that he raped Higgins in then-defence industry minister Linda Reynolds’ office in March 2019.
Higgins has today returned to the stand as a witness in the defamation battle and has provided some detail of the night of the alleged rape on 22 March 2019.
Higgins shared that she invited Lehrmann and other Parliament House staff and Reynolds’ office members to drinks at The Dock on the 22 March.
She then went on to describe what happened on the evening in her own words.
She revealed she went home, put her stuff down and had a glass of wine before heading to the pub The Dock.
Higgins said she had no recollection of how much she drank at The Dock, however, the CCTV suggested that she had 11 drinks.
She became emotional in the stand as she talked about returning to Parliament House in an Uber with Lehrmann.
Higgins became emotional and started to cry, but told Justice Lee she was able to continue to give evidence.
When describing walking into Parliament House, Higgins said she didn’t recall much other than struggling with her shoes at some point.
She then went on to describe the alleged rape, saying she woke up with Lehrmann on top of her and that she asked him to stop multiple times but he did not listen.
She went on to describe what happened the next day, including leaving Parliament House in an Uber.
Earlier this month it was revealed that Lehrmann had settled his defamation suit with the ABC after the network broadcast a 2022 National Press Club speech by fellow former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins.
Last month Lehrmann was reportedly charged with the rape of a young woman he met in a Toowoomba strip club.
Lehrman lost a court battle to keep his identity secret after his lawyer raised concerns about his mental health.
