Who’s on team Brittany Higgins, and who’s defending Bruce Lehrmann, Canberra rape trial
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Brittany Higgins and her accused rapist are flanked by supporters and powerful legal teams to aid them in the high-profile sexual assault case gripping the country.
Ms Higgins, 27, testified before the ACT Supreme Court in Canberra during the trial of Bruce Lehrmann, a former Liberal Party staffer – who denies raping her in the parliament building in March 2019 after a drunken night out.
Hair partner David Sharaz, the ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates, attorney Leon Zweir and friend Emma Webster have so far assisted her on her way to court through the early days of the trial so far.
Mr Zweir has been described as the ‘Mr fix it’ to some of the biggest legal battles in Australia.
ACT’s Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC and veteran District Attorney Skye Jerome will represent the Crown.
Brittany Higgins’ team: 1. ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates; 2. Brittany Higgins; 3. Her friend, Emma Webster; 4. Her boyfriend, David Sharaz; 5. Lawyer Leon Zweir
Prosecutors: 1. ACT’s Prosecutor’s Office Shane Drumgold SC; 2. Prosecutor, Skye Jerome
Mr Drumgold, who has led many of Canberra’s most high-profile cases in his 20 years with the ACT DPP, has held the highest-profile prosecution since 2019.
He is assisted by Ms Jerome, an experienced prosecutor in both the ACT and Queensland.
Meanwhile, Mr. Lerhmann’s defense attorney is Steven Whybrow, a former prosecutor in the ACT courts who, as an RAAF Legal Officer, is also regularly involved in military court cases.
His junior attorney Katrina Musgrove, who went to the bar in 2016, has also worked as a prosecutor in sexual assault trials.
The case is chaired by Justice Lucy McCallum, who was sworn in as Chief Justice of the ACT in March, after 14 years as a judge on the NSW Supreme Court.
During Wednesday’s trial, Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann sat just yards from each other, barely making eye contact in a public gallery packed with journalists and legal personnel.
They will appear in court again on Thursday while the trial continues.
On Wednesday, Ms Higgins took to the stands and viewed CCTV footage of The Dock site in Kingston on the night she was allegedly raped.
Pictured out of court: 1. Katrina Musgrove, junior defense counsel for the trial; 2. Bruce Lehrmann
Lead attorney is Steven Whybrown (pictured behind Mr Lehrmann out of court)
Brittany Higgins leaves the ACT Supreme Court in Canberra after she sat on the witness stand in the trial of her alleged rapist
Two police interrogations with the alleged victim, in early 2021, were played in court and showed that Ms Higgins repeatedly stated that she had been drinking heavily that night and that her memory was “fragmented”.
The 27-year-old originally said she had had about four drinks at The Dock, but security footage showed she had drunk up to 11 within a four-hour period – between 7:24 PM and 11:51 PM.
Earlier in the evening, Mrs. Higgins was sitting at a table with about six colleagues, but she occasionally used her phone at the table.
The court was told she had arranged a Bumble date for the evening.
She left the main table at 8:20pm to meet her date outside the bar before bringing him inside to introduce him to everyone at the table.
He was with the group of mainly Parliamentarian assistants, but seemed to disappear before 8.52 pm, when Mrs Higgins sat down at another table with Mr Lehrmann and two others.
At 11:51 pm she had her last drink before leaving the pub with the group.
Ms Higgins was visibly shocked after CCTV played in court on Wednesday.
Judge Lucy McCallum was sworn in as Chief Justice of the ACT in March, after 14 years as a judge on the NSW Supreme Court
Brittany Higgins sent her ex a series of text messages in 2019 to say her Friday night hadn’t gone as expected after she was allegedly raped in an office in the parliament building. CoS stands for chief of staff, a key position in a parliamentary office
The court was also shown a video of her being questioned by police over a series of text messages she sent to former lover Ben Dillaway in the wake of the alleged attack.
According to reports shown to the jury, Ms Higgins’ old flame, Mr Dillaway, asked her, ‘Was it just you and Bruce who went there or a group of people?
“Did you crochet there or did someone take advantage of you?”
She replied, ‘Yeah, it was just Bruce and I as far as I remember. I was barely clear.
“I really don’t feel like it was completely consensual. If he thought it was okay, why would he leave me like this?’
Ms Higgins told police in the interview that she had already had to fend off Lehrmann when he attempted to kiss her in her first week on the job at a team dinner.
Former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann will leave the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday after his former colleague and alleged rape victim Brittany Higgins testified
“Bruce walked up to me and tried to kiss me,” she said. “I didn’t think much about it because I turned it down.
“I didn’t think it would be a deal at the time. It was fine – he took it and left.’
She added, “I just broke up with Ben… We never talked about it again.”
‘We were just the two of us. He leaned over to my face, but at the same time, I’d had other people in politics look at me before.
“I didn’t want to embarrass him. Mixed signal type thing.’
Just a few weeks later, Mrs. Higgins claims that Lehrmann raped her after a drunken night out.