Brittany Higgins says it is “time to heal” and deeply regrets she has not found common ground with her former bosses Linda Reynolds and Fiona Brown.
In her first statement since Justice Michael Lee found she was raped by Bruce Lerhmann at Parliament House, Ms Higgins said she was “sorry” that Ms Reynolds and Ms Brown were hurt in the fallout from the allegation.
“My perceptions and feelings about what happened in the days and weeks after my rape are different from theirs,” she said.
“I deeply regret that we have not yet found common ground. I hope we can resolve our differences with a better understanding of each other’s experience.”
“I was 24 when I was raped in Parliament House. It has been five years of criminal and civil trials and government inquiries for the truth to finally be heard.
“It is now time to heal.”
She also thanked her family for their “incredible support.”
“They’ve been so strong, faced a seemingly unrelenting barrage of hate and have consistently held me together at times when I thought I would fall apart.”
Justice Michael Lee found on the balance of probabilities Lehrmann raped the then 24-year-old in then defence minister Linda Reynolds’ office in March 2019.
In findings delivered on Monday, Justice Lee found Lehrmann was so “hell-bent“ on having sex with Ms Higgins that he was indifferent to her consent and raped her.
While there was no evidence Lehrmann knew that Ms Higgins did not consent to the sexual activity, he was recklessly indifferent to her rights, the judge said.
“It has been five years of criminal and civil trials and government inquiries for the truth to finally be revealed,” Ms Higgins said in her statement posted to Instagram.
But the saga is not over with the very real prospect of another Higgins trial – this time with her being accused of defamation by Ms Reynolds.
The outgoing WA senator and former defence minister is suing her former junior media adviser, and Ms Higgins’ fiance David Sharaz, over social media posts she said they planned deliberately to damage her.
One WA judge had desperately tried to get the warring sides to settle, ordering face-to-face mediation which stretched on for 10 hours last month.
But peace could not be found. And the word mediation was nowhere to be found on April 3 either — with Justice Paul Tottle being asked to map out how a scheduled six-week trial to start in July would work.
Senator Reynolds’ barrister, Martin Bennett, would not completely rule out the prospect of a settlement.
“At the moment, we need to prepare for a trial,” he said. “If we sit around hoping for things to settle, they never do.”
Mr Bennett also said it was inevitable that Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz would have to both give evidence.