The first day in the high-stakes trial in the WA Supreme Court has seen Linda Reynolds lawyer pick apart several claims by Brittany Higgins after she reported being raped in Parliament House.
Senator Linda Reynolds ' lawyer spent the first day of the almost five-week WA Supreme Court trial attempting to dissect several claims Brittany Higgins made against her former boss.
Senator Reynolds is suing over a series of social media posts Ms Higgins made, which she claims damaged her reputation and caused her intense distress and embarrassment.The Senator claims Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz conducted an orchestrated campaign to smear her politically by claiming she didn't support Ms Higgins after she said she was raped by her colleague Bruce Lehrmann in March 2019 at Parliament House in Canberra.
He produced a series of text messages between Ms Higgins and her then boyfriend Ben Dillaway in which she speaks of having fun on the campaign trial, including one which said "my day's been awesome, mostly spent poolside".Photographs produced by Mr Bennett showed Ms Higgins on the campaign trail, socialising with friends at the Camfield pub in Burswood, attending night markets in Kalamunda with Senator Reynolds and wearing a Linda Reynolds campaign t-shirt.
Brittany Higgins sits next to Linda Reynolds at a birthday dinner for the senator on May 15, 2019, at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Perth.Mr Bennett said after the Coalition won the election, Ms Higgins wrote messages about being part of a "winning team, including the incredible minister Linda Reynolds". "In 2021 Ms Higgins went back and reconstructed a series of events in her mind used to damnify my client," he said.Mr Bennett told the court Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz orchestrated a "sophisticated" media campaign to inflict maximum damage on Senator Reynolds and the Coalition government ahead of the 2022 federal election.
Mr Sharaz and Ms Higgins wanted the story to come out in a parliamentary sitting week to inflict maximum damage, Mr Bennett said. The settlement included a non-disparagement clause "which Ms Higgins immediately forgot," Mr Bennett said.When will Brittany Higgins appear?
Wa News Brittany Higgins Linda Reynolds Bruce Lerhrmann David Sharaz Defamation Trial Parliament Brittany Higgins Trial Bruce Lehrmann Appeal Brittany Higgins France Wa Supreme Court Lisa Wilkinson Michael Lee
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