Linda Reynolds is venting her anger over a black-and-white Carla Zampatti jacket — worth about $1,000 — that Brittany Higgins took from her office the morning after her rape and never returned.
Ms Higgins was raped by her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann on a couch in Senator Reynolds’ office in Parliament House in the early morning of March 23, 2019.
Security footage showed her arriving at Capital Hill that night wearing only a white sheath dress and heels. But footage taken the next day showed her leaving the building in a designer jacket.
The former Liberal Party worker previously told the court she wanted to cover herself after the attack. She found the coat in a charity box in Ms Reynolds’ office and put it on.
Ms Reynolds, who is now suing Ms Higgins for defamation in the Supreme Court of Western Australia, has maintained there was no charity box in her office and claimed the jacket was stolen from her personal wardrobe.
During cross-examination this week, Ms Reynolds admitted she thought she had lost her coat until Lehrmann’s barrister Steven Whybrow SC told her three years later that Ms Higgins had taken the coat.
She became enraged and texted Mr Whybrow late that evening about Ms Higgins’ choice of clothing. She admitted in court that it was ‘catty’ but that she couldn’t control her frustration at the time.
Daily Mail Australia has now obtained a photo of Ms Reynolds wearing the designer jacket at an event in Rockingham, Western Australia, in 2017 – some two years before Ms Higgins stole it from her office.
Linda Reynolds wears her Carla Zampatti jacket in 2017, two years before Brittany Higgins stole it
Brittany Higgins is pictured leaving Parliament House in Mrs Reynolds’ designer jacket
Ms. Reynolds was also seen giving a speech to a room full of local business owners at the same event.
The jacket was mentioned twice in court on Thursday – once when Reynolds was questioned about an interview she had with Liam Bartlett on Channel Seven’s Spotlight programme last August.
Mrs Higgins’ lawyer, Rachael Young SC, suggested to Mrs Reynolds that she take the jacket to Mr Bartlett because ‘you wanted to tell him that she had stolen your jacket’.
Mrs. Reynolds replied, “That’s right, because I didn’t get it back.”
The situation was then referred to as the ‘stolen’ coat.
The issue was raised again later that afternoon when Ms Reynolds was questioned about WhatsApp messages she sent to Mr Whybrow at 11.12pm on October 6, 2022 – the day Ms Higgins gave evidence in the criminal case against Lehrmann.
Ms. Higgins wore a beige, embroidered suit worth about $750 — the same color and design worn by Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, earlier that year during a visit to the College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in London.
The senator told the court she felt frustrated that Ms Higgins was “imitating” the Duchess during the rape trial, as she was “still annoyed” about her Carla Zampatti jacket.
Brittany Higgins is pictured in an embroidered beige skirt suit outside the ACT Supreme Court in October 2022
Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, is pictured wearing the same skirt suit in April 2022
Mrs Young asked: ”When you saw her in a £400 suit did you feel annoyed?’
Mrs. Reynolds agreed.
Mrs. Young asked, “Did you think she had no right to wear such a nice suit?”
Ms Reynolds said that was not the case. She felt partly irritated that Ms Higgins had made ‘a thing’ about the clothes she wore, often wearing white as a symbol at events.
“It irritated me because it had to do with the connection between my coat and the image of her coming… she can wear whatever she wants… but what irritated me was that I saw her as an imitation of Kate Middleton,” she said.
“It doesn’t really make sense, but it did irritate me.”
Ms Young pointed out that people who come to court normally wear a suit.
Mrs Reynolds agreed, but said she was only thinking about her own coat when she sent the messages.
“I was angry that my coat was stolen and I was sensitive about her outfits,” she said.
Mrs Reynolds said she would not have cared if Mrs Higgins had explained afterwards that she had taken the coat because she was uncomfortable or cold.
She said the problem was that the coat had disappeared without her knowledge and was never found.
In April, Federal Court Judge Michael Lee ruled on a balance of probabilities that Lehrmann raped Ms Higgins in Parliament House in 2019.
He continues to maintain his innocence and has appealed the findings.