Linda Reynolds v Brittany Higgins day one: Defamation case in WA’s Supreme Court

Brittany Higgins and her now husband David Sharaz “conceived a plan to the last detail” to damage her former boss Linda Reynolds – by casting her as the villain in their “fairytale” of a political cover-up of her bombshell rape allegation.

After years of public claim and counterclaim, Ms Reynolds’ legal claim of defamation against Ms Higgins finally began on Friday, with the outgoing Senator’s lawyers opening the case with a string of stunning statements of their own.

The first was that Ms Reynolds said she believes Ms Higgins’ claim that she was raped by Bruce Lehrmann on a couch in her office in 2019.

But beyond that, Ms Reynolds labelled Ms Higgins account of what followed as “false”, “absolute nonsense”, “factually wrong”, “offensive” and “fiction”.

Barrister Martin Bennett said that in 2021 — ahead of her revelations to News Corp and Network Ten — Ms Higgins “reconstructed in her mind a series of events used to damnify my client”.

“The fact she had been raped was traumatic and terrible but it needed something more to attract the attention, to attract media interest, to attract the promotion of Ms Higgins, so she made it a political sex scandal. That’s the fiction that needed a villain and she cast Linda Reynolds in that role,” Mr Bennett said.

Mr Bennett said phone messages revealed that messages were being sent by Ms Maiden to politicians during Question Time with information about Ms Higgins.

“This protestation that we had nothing to do with that – is simply factually wrong,” Mr Bennett said.

Through her lawyers, the former senior minister has launched a vigorous defence of her treatment of her former junior staffer, including the infamous meeting with Ms Higgins’ in the office she said he had been raped in.

Opening her defamation case in WA’s Supreme Court on Friday, Ms Reynolds’ legal team wasted no time criticising and chastising Ms Higgins — while at the same time asserting that the outgoing WA politician “never contested the rape allegation … never contested that account”.

“A terrible circumstance but not what this case is about,” Mr Bennett said.

“Every fairytale needs a villain – and they cast Senator Reynolds in that role for their fictional story of a cover-up.

“Allegations of cruel treatment, ostracisation. bullying, harassment, and threatening conduct.

“She was cast in this … critical light. And none of it was true.”

That was the stark opening of Ms Reynolds’ case that she was defamed and damaged by Ms Higgins, when she asserted the cover-up in social media posts in 2023.

Other posts by her now husband in 2022 are also set to come under scrutiny.

As will the compensation agreement agreed by the Federal Government with Ms Higgins after a single day of mediation in December 2022.

Within that, Ms Higgins made various claims about how she was treated by Ms Reynolds while working for her — including during her stint in Perth during the federal election campaign in 2019.

She thought Lehrmann was shifty

Mr Bennett detailed how part of Ms Higgins compensation claim had been that her mental health had deteriorated because she had been largely working “on her own in a hotel room – seven days a week for six weeks.”

Mr Bennett said he intended to show “the bare-faced falsity of the allegation”.

In part, by using Ms Higgins’ own text messages to a former boyfriend from that time, when she described various campaign outings. And also photographs of her at various events — including with then PM Scott Morrison — and at Ms Reynolds’ home.

“She doesn’t appear isolated — she doesn’t appear anything other than a young vivacious doorknocker,” Mr Bennett said.

As Mr Bennett drilled into the details of Ms Reynolds’ legal defence, he also launched a vigorous personal defence of the former minister’s action in meeting with Ms Higgins’ in her office days after the alleged rape.

Part of Ms Higgins allegation of “mishandling” of her rape complaint was that she was ushered into the same office and near the same couch she alleged she was raped on just days earlier.

Mr Bennett pointed to notes made at the time by then Chief of Staff Fiona Brown, who recalled on Thursday March 28, Ms Higgins told her: “I recall him being on top of me.”

Mr Bennett said on their case at that point, no allegation of rape had been made — and no detail of where it might have occurred.

And so, when the meeting with Ms Higgins was called the following Monday in the Senator’s office, she insists she did not know then that the alleged attack had happened there.

“She didn’t know that the incident occurred on the couch – she learned that on April 3. Where else was she supposed to meet?,” Mr Bennett said.

“’On top of me’ – she did not know that meant on top of me on the couch. It had never been disclosed before that.”

And Mr Bennett said it is “flatly denied” that Ms Higgins told her in that meeting that she had been sexually assaulted on the couch.

“Feelings are not facts. Her perception of something is not fact,” Mr Bennett said. “Falsely attributing a callousness to Senator Reynolds that was wrong in fact.”

Mr Bennett said some of Ms Higgins claims of being unsupported by her boss were “nonsense”, “offensive nonsense” and “absolute nonsense” - pointing to her being consulted, counselled, encouraged and being assured she would not lose her job.

“In 2021, Ms Higgins went back and reconstructed in her mind a sequence of events she used to damnify my client,” Mr Bennett said.

Mr Bennett also revealed Ms Reynold’s opinion of Mr Lehrmann in a telling word: “Shifty”

“Senator Reynolds had an intuition – she had a marvellous experience as a leader of a people in the army and politics. She thought Lehrmann was shifty,” Mr Bennett said.

That came after he had already been disciplined for leaving a top secret document unattended on a desk, and then the revelation of the late night security breach.

Forward two years in 2021, as The Project interview with Ms Higgins was being aired, Ms Reynolds was watching in her office.

“Horrified, horrified at the falsity of what was being said about her,” Mr Bennett said.

It was on this watching that Ms Reynolds was overheard exclaiming: “Lying cow”. Mr Bennett said that was overheard, and then leaked to the media.

Ms Reynolds apologised, explained that it was not directed at Ms Higgins’ rape allegation — but rather the allegations about her conduct. She then settled a legal claim from Ms Higgins, and paid a $10,000 settlement.

“She involuntarily exclaimed her horror by saying words she can’t remember saying but was told by her staff afterwards, the words “Lying Cow,” Mr Bennett said.

“Now, Lying was an appropriate response. Cow was just an epithet — unfortunate as it was.

“When you’re watching someone lie about you — lying cow is an entirely defensible thing to do. What did Senator Reynolds do? She apologised. She settled.”

In a new development at the start of the trial, Mr Bennett reveal there are yet more communications – not detailed but said to add to that hurt — which Ms Reynolds’ lawyers are attempting to gain access to.

They apparently include a message sent to News Corp journalist Samantha Maiden – which was deleted after it was sent — and photographs sent to Mr Sharaz.

Mr Bennett said in court that Ms Higgins had also deleted those, and Mr Sharaz had refused to make those images available.

He also said Ms Higgins had failed to swear some recent affidavits.

“Frankly a ridiculous position to be placed in,” Mr Bennett said.

Arriving for her day in court, Senator Reynolds told reporters that she was “confident that the truth would be told” over the five-week trial.

Ms Reynolds’ legal team were opening their case, the beginning of what the outgoing senator hopes will be the vindication of a reputation that she was seriously damaged by Ms Higgins and her social media channels.

Three posts – two by Ms Higgins and one by her now husband David Sharaz – will be at the centre of the trial before Justice Paul Tottle, written in 2022 and 2023.

But much like the other trial involving Ms Higgins, sparked by her allegation that she was raped in Parliament House by Bruce Lehrmann, the layers within the hearing will be numerous.

Arriving in readiness to hear her lawyer Martin Bennett begin his opening arguments, Ms Reynolds appeared confident in her claim.

“I’m feeling confident that the truth is about to be told,” she said.

“It’s well and truly time for the truth.”

Senator Reynolds took offence at tweets on the social media platform X and Instagram posts published in 2022 and 2023.

One of the Instagram posts implied the senator mishandled Ms Higgins’ rape allegation against her colleague Bruce Lehrmann by failing to provide support, her statement of claim says.

The post also allegedly suggested the senator acted questionably during Lehrmann’s trial and engaged in a campaign of harassment towards Ms Higgins.

Two tweets could be understood to mean the senator wanted to silence victims of sexual assault, according to the document.

Another post published by Ms Higgins’ husband David Sharaz — which the claim says the couple was jointly responsible for — implied the senator pressured her former staffer not to continue with her sexual assault complaint to police and that she was a hypocrite in her advocacy for gender equality and female empowerment.

Senator Reynolds said the posts damaged her character, public profile and future prospects, and caused her distress and embarrassment.

The claim also said Ms Higgins’ conduct was aggravated because it was part of a “malicious” plan, created by her and Mr Sharaz, that alleged the senator was involved in a political cover-up of the rape allegation.

“Shortly after meeting Mr Sharaz in May 2020, the defendant created the idea of the plan and recorded the idea as a note on her mobile phone which read: ‘Thesis idea – the cult of politics, the media lens of a political sex scandal, anatomy of a political sex scandal’,” the document said.

This allegedly led to Ms Higgins’ interviews with Lisa Wilkinson on Network Ten’s The Project and Samantha Maiden from News Corp in 2021.

Senator Reynolds denies harassing Ms Higgins and said she gave her extensive support after making the rape allegation.

Ms Higgins’ defence relies on truth and that it was reasonable to comment and provide opinion on issues of public interest concerning government and political matters.

Defence documents state Senator Reynolds’ alleged harassment included sharing confidential information with the media and questioning Ms Higgins’ $2.4 million commonwealth settlement.

Ms Higgins also claims in the documents that her former boss failed to support her, “including by undermining her credibility and making allegations about her honesty” after she had disclosed the rape allegation on The Project.

Mediation has failed to resolve the case, sparking the trial set down for around five weeks, with a string of witnesses which could include former prime minister Scott Morrison.

Senator Reynolds was also pursuing Mr Sharaz for defamation but he announced in April he would no longer fight the case and consented to judgment.

Lehrmann has always denied the sexual assault allegation. His criminal trial was aborted because of juror misconduct and Ms Higgins’ mental health was cited as the reason for no retrial.

With AAP