A new crowdfunding campaign has been set up to support a sexual abuse survivor advocate who may face trial after launching a fundraiser for Brittany Higgins.
Lawyers for Senator Linda Reynolds have asked that Saxon Mullins be called to testify about the fundraising during the high-profile defamation case between Ms Reynolds and her former aide.
The senator is suing Ms Higgins and her husband David Sharaz in the Supreme Court of Western Australia over social media posts published in 2022 and 2023 that she claims damaged her reputation.
The social media posts criticised the senator’s handling of Ms Higgins’ allegation that she was raped by her colleague Bruce Lehrmann in Parliament House in 2019.
Lehrmann faced a criminal trial in 2022, but it was dropped due to juror misconduct.
The rape charges were later dropped and he continues to maintain his innocence.
Lehrmann lost a civil defamation case in April this year when the Federal Court found on the balance of probabilities that he had raped Ms Higgins in Parliament House.
Ms Mullins launched the #Stand With Brittany Higgins fundraiser earlier this month and so far it has raised more than $51,000 to cover “ongoing medical, counselling and legal costs”.
A new crowdfunding campaign has been set up to support a sexual abuse survivor lawyer who could face court after setting up a fundraiser for Brittany Higgins (pictured).
Attorneys for Senator Linda Reynolds (pictured) have asked to call Saxon Mullins to testify about the fundraising during the high-profile defamation case
“After Brittany spoke out about her assault, she was subjected to an endless series of attacks and now she is being sued for defamation,” Mullins wrote on social media at the time.
However, the fundraising has now seen the sexual abuse lawyer thrust into the spotlight after Ms Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett called on her to testify in court.
He claimed the fundraiser was “an attempt to misrepresent the proceedings” to focus on Ms Higgins’ alleged rape in 2019.
“(It is) an attempt to say Senator Reynolds is trying to silence a survivor of sexual abuse,” he said in the Western Australian Supreme Court.
The request for Ms Mullins to testify has led to a second fundraising campaign, which has been set up to help Ms Mullins respond to her unforeseen involvement in the libel case.
Nina Furnell, the founder of the #LetUsSpeak movement, launched the #Support Saxon Mullins campaign on Thursday, saying the lawyer had “been through hell in the courts of this country” on other issues.
She said Ms Mullins’ legal costs were “mounting” after she hired lawyers to comply with a subpoena to turn over all communications with Ms Higgins about the #Stand With Brittany Higgins fundraiser.
“Saxon has done nothing wrong, has nothing to hide, and will willingly comply if forced to testify in court,” Furnell wrote.
“But like many survivors, this is a traumatic and stressful episode that has reopened old wounds and caused pain and injury.”
The crowdfunding campaign aims to raise $10,000 to cover Ms Mullins’ (pictured) legal fees and counselling costs arising from the defamation case.
The aim of the crowdfunding campaign is to raise $10,000 to support Ms Mullins’ legal and counsel fees arising from the defamation case.
At the time of writing, over $2,000 had been donated.
Ms Furnell wrote that the additional funds would be used for any additional victims of sexual abuse who were sued, or that they would make a donation to a sexual abuse charity of Ms Mullins’ choosing.
Judge Paul Tottle is expected to rule on Friday on whether Ms Mullins will be called to give evidence.