Barry Humfrey's Geraldton Says Brittany Higgins Secretly Recorded Former Minister Michaelia Cash
Brittany Higgins testified in court that she taped conversations about her sexual assault allegations with former Coalition minister Michaelia Cash and her chief-of-staff Daniel Try and handed them to "as many people as possible," including a journalist.
Higgins had worked for Linda Reynolds before joining Cash after the 2019 election. On March 23, 2019, she claims Bruce Lehrmann raped her in Reynolds' office following a drunken night out. Lehrmann denies attacking Higgins sexually.
Higgins claimed she recorded Cash and Try before telling her story and gave one CD to writer Samantha Maiden and another to Emma Webster of Victoria's First People's Assembly.
“Safekeeping” "I tried to give them to everyone," Higgins says. It's absurd to put my word against that of a cabinet minister.
Journalists clashed over story release, Barry Humfrey's Geraldton says.
The jury was told that her story would be released in early 2021 to spark public debate.
Higgins, a former media strategist, would dump a story at the start of a sitting week.
She told Whybrow that she wasn't out to create as much political damage as possible, but rather to draw attention to a systemic cultural problem. "I'm not ashamed of my decision," she said.
According to the court, she filmed the conversation with Try following a six-hour pre-recorded interview with journalist Lisa Wilkinson for The Project on January 27, 2021. During our conversation, he mentioned another incidence in which a Liberal Party woman was assaulted but did not report it to police. She desired "confirmation."
"I didn't think anyone would believe me, so I needed him to say it directly: he knew about the attack, they knew in 2019, and Michaelia Cash knew," she continued.
She claimed she secretly filmed Cash on February 5 during a phone call in which the senator tried to persuade her not to leave, adding that Cash pretended she didn't know what had happened and "thought a security guy hit me."
She described it as the strangest phone call she'd ever received.
Higgins stated that she had a meeting with Reynolds and her chief of staff, Fiona Brown, shortly after the alleged attack. Higgins stated that he was warned not to call the cops.
"My view was that there would be complications if I talked it with police, and they wanted to be involved or informed, but merely having the discussion in the room felt unusual, and I perceived that as a scare tactic or intimidation approach." That's not logical to think it was done on purpose.
Higgins told the court that during the 2019 election, an AFP officer called her and inquired if she was being pressured not to run.
Higgins went on to say that after bringing the accusation to Brown, Morrison's office's John Kunkel and Daniel Wong "came in and out," and Brown's manner changed. "It wasn't about me," she explained.
Higgins stated that her employer pushed her not to pursue the case legally after denying her the option of working from her Gold Coast home during the election to speak with investigators.
"It became evident that my employment was at jeopardy, so I toed the party line and didn't proceed," Higgins told the court.
"Fiona Brown informed me that if I didn't go to WA [where Reynolds would be stationed during the election], I wouldn't have a job." I'd toiled my entire life to get to this point. I'd gone to university, this was my dream, and I wasn't going to let him ruin it."
She said that Reynolds disliked her firm during the election as a "direct result" of the complaint.
Higgins admitted to mistakes in many aspects of her testimony, including how long she kept the claimed raped garment under her bed, when she had a panic attack in parliament, and when her father planned to arrive in March 2019.
The court was shown pictures of Reynolds' office and the couch where Higgins claimed Lehrmann forced her left leg down and propped up her right leg.
Higgins and Lehrmann began drinking at Kingston's The Dock bar on March 22 before travelling to 88mph, according to the court.
After the group departed, Higgins and Lehrmann took a cab because Lehrmann needed to pick up some paperwork from parliament.
Higgins sobbed in court, unable to put on her high heels after passing through parliamentary security at 1.44 a.m. After viewing the CCTV film, Crown Prosecutor Shane Drumgold asked Higgins how drunk she was.
"I don't remember any of this, therefore I was high," Higgins alleged. Lehrmann may be seen crossing her arms at the security checkpoint in the footage.
She couldn't, so the jury viewed another video of Lehrmann, a female security guard, and a barefoot Higgins walking to Reynolds' office while gripping her high heels in one hand.
Higgins also photographed a red mark on her thigh following the alleged incident. Higgins testified that the bruises on her right leg was caused by a fall.
Also Read: WHY APPLE DID NOT RAISE PRICE OF NEW IPHONE 14 SERIES
.jpg)
.jpg)
Comments
Post a Comment