Brittany angers Senator by sending social posts while court is hearing evidence
Brittany Higgins continues to post on social media during her high-profile defamation trial, prompting a rebuke from Senator Linda Reynolds’ lawyer.
Ms Higgins is being sued over a series of social media posts containing alleged mistruths the former defence minister believes have damaged her reputation.
Lawyer Martin Bennett told the court after Senator Reynolds finished her first day in the witness box Ms Higgins, who is in France, had posted on Instagram while her former boss was giving evidence.
āMs Higgins thinks she can provide a social media running commentary on my clientās evidence,ā he told the Western Australian Supreme Court on Monday.
āItās extraordinarily inappropriate.ā
The post is a photo of a book titled How Many More Women? How the law silences women, along with the words: āPertinent readingā.
Mr Bennett said the senator would submit an amended statement of claim on Tuesday to reflect the post.
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āI would hope somebody would advise Ms Higgins to give up commentary,ā he said.
Ms Higginsā lawyer Rachael Young said it was a repost and had no bearing on the trial.
Outside court, Mr Bennett said the post could aggravate any damages awarded to the senator.
Earlier, Senator Reynolds told the court she was angry when she learned about a āmajor security breachā at her ministerial office involving Bruce Lehrmann and Ms Higgins, who were intoxicated.
āI was a bit gobsmacked, I was then angry ā¦ the stupidity of the staff to do that,ā she said.
The senator said she was initially embarrassed for Ms Higgins when she learned security staff found her naked.
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The then-24-year-old later reported having very little memory of the events in the office.
āI felt a bit sorry for her because it would have been a bit embarrassing to have woken up the next morning after having been asleep drunk in your bossās office,ā she said.
In the days following Senator Reynolds met Ms Higgins in the same office she was allegedly raped in, which has since been used to illustrate her alleged mishandling of the rape.
āThere was no allegation of rape and there was no indication of where, when she said that āhe was on top of meā that it was actually in my office,ā she said.
āSo when we had the meeting, it seemed the logical place to do it, because it was the only private room that I had a meeting like that in.ā
Senator Reynolds said she was impressed with Ms Higgins at the meeting.
āShe was sorry, she took responsibility for her actions and she wanted to stay working for me,ā she said referring to the security breach.
The senator assured Ms Higgins, who was upset and embarrassed by the incident, her job was safe and offered to help her make a complaint to police about Mr Lehrmann.
āShe did not say that thereād been any sexual assault, she did not say thereād been a crime but (then-chief of staff Fiona Brown) and I were both worried,ā she said.
Lehrmann denies sexually assaulting Ms Higgins. His criminal trial was aborted because of juror misconduct and Ms Higginsā mental health was cited as the reason for no retrial.
The senator will resume giving evidence on Tuesday.
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