Brittany Higgins unavailable to appear in court for a third day

The trial of Brittany Higgins’ accused rapist is continuing as the jury is told the alleged victim remains unavailable to appear in court until Friday.

Ms Higgins, 27, alleges Bruce Lehrmann sexually assaulted her inside the parliamentary office of then-defence industry minister, Linda Reynolds, after a night out in Canberra in March 2019.

Lehrmann, 26, is facing trial in the ACT Supreme Court and has pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent.

Ms Higgins was due to finish her cross-examination by defence lawyer Steven Whybrow on Monday but has not appeared in court this week.

The trial continued in her absence, with the Crown calling other witnesses. 

The court has prevented publication of any other evidence until after Ms Higgins has returned and completed her evidence.

The jury was told: ‘Ms Higgins will return on Friday morning, we will do our best to occupy the rest of today and tomorrow with witnesses. 

‘I anticipate that we will have a shorter day on Friday.’

Last week, Ms Higgins was reduced to tears as she was grilled during cross-examination over the night in question, including over whether she had vomit stains on her dress.

She also blew up in court when defence lawyer Steven Whybrow put to her that she had told Mr Dillaway, police, and her former boss Fiona Brown that she was making up doctor’s appointments to ‘bolster’ her story.

Ms Higgins responded, loudly: ‘What you’re saying is deeply insulting.’

‘You are so incorrect. 

‘I don’t know if you’ve ever been through a trauma before … It’s confronting, it is a very hard thing to do. I was bed bound, I was doing my best. I completely reject everything you’re saying.’

Mr Whybrow also asked why she didn’t tell anyone about the alleged assault for a number of days – despite being in contact with Mr Dillaway and her father via text messages.

Former Liberal Party staffer Bruce Lehrmann arrives at the ACT Supreme Court in Canberra

In the texts, the Mr Dillaway and Ms Higgins engaged in light banter about tacos, margaritas, and his recent drive from the Gold Coast in Queensland to Orange in NSW. 

The only inference Ms Higgins made about the alleged attack was when she wrote: ‘Haha I just get myself into trouble, need to keep that s**t locked down.’

Ms Higgins told the court: ‘I wasn’t ready to share, I was playing it off.’

In court, Ms Higgins said she was ‘responding to his messages on autopilot, like everything was fine’. 

Earlier in the trial, Ms Higgins admitted to deleting photos from her phone before handing it to police – telling the court she ‘wanted to scrub all the horrible parts of my life out’.

The trial continues.