She informed the courtroom she didn’t have a cause to cease at Parliament Home however was “drunk” and “simply went together with it”.
“I don’t know why, however when it stopped, I received out too,” she stated.
Lehrmann’s attorneys additionally pointed to Higgins’ proof in Lehrmann’s ACT Supreme Courtroom trial for sexual assault that she stored the white gown she wore that night time underneath her mattress in a plastic bag “for a very good six months” earlier than she washed it and wore it “as soon as extra” after which by no means once more.
After being proven a photograph of her sporting the gown in Could 2019, six weeks after the alleged assault, Higgins conceded throughout the felony trial that the time interval was shorter than she recalled.
She gave proof within the defamation case that she was trying to “reclaim” the gown by sporting it at a party for Reynolds, however she “by no means wore it after this occasion”.
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Lehrmann’s barristers, led by Steven Whybrow, SC, submit that their “evaluation of the deed and of the proof given by Ms Higgins within the felony trial … suggests Ms Higgins’ [sic] had a preparedness to inform lies, together with elaborate lies, on essentially the most solemn of events”.
“Within the case of the deed, this concerned cost of a settlement sum to her that was life-changing.”
Higgins informed the courtroom she obtained about $1.9 million underneath the Commonwealth settlement as soon as authorized charges and taxes have been subtracted.
Lehrmann’s attorneys submitted that the courtroom ought to “reject Ms Higgins’ proof in its entirety except corroborated by different unbiased proof or contemporaneous paperwork”.
However Ten’s attorneys, led by Dr Matt Collins, KC, stated that “[to] the extent that there may be issues within the deed with the Commonwealth which might be objectively improper or inconsistent with factual findings which might be made on this continuing, these aren’t issues bearing on the central indisputable fact that courtroom should determine”.
“Strikingly, the allegation of rape within the deed is totally in keeping with all different accounts that Ms Higgins has given of that occasion,” the submissions stated.
Ten famous Lehrmann alleged in his defamation declare {that a} Logies acceptance speech delivered by Wilkinson elevated the hurt he suffered, however he informed Seven’s Highlight program {that a} delay in his trial, ordered by ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum after the speech, allowed his authorized staff to “dig deeper” within the proof.
“Mr Lehrmann thus believed it was to his final benefit that the trial was briefly stayed,” Ten’s attorneys submitted.
Federal Courtroom Justice Lee has indicated he’ll ship his choice within the defamation case as early as this month. The submissions reveal Lee requested the events supplementary questions in an electronic mail on February 20, together with a query referring to a hypothetical situation through which Ten’s defences failed however “no damages, or nominal damages”, have been “decided to be the suitable award”.
Lehrmann’s sexual assault trial was aborted in 2022 resulting from juror misconduct and the cost was later dropped altogether owing to issues about Higgins’ psychological well being. He has all the time maintained his innocence.