Linda Reynolds has denied knowing that Brittany Higgins was sexually assaulted prior to meeting with her in the same office, on the same couch, she was raped on.
In court on Friday, Ms Higgins’ barrister Rachael Young SC suggested to Ms Reynolds that she must have known something sexual happened in the early hours of March 23, 2019.
Ms Reynolds maintained she did not know, and she didn’t want to assume.
Ms Young pointed out that Ms Reynolds knew Ms Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann had entered her office, drunk, in the early hours of the morning.
Prior to the meeting in her office with Ms Higgins on April 1, 2019, she also knew Ms Higgins had been found naked on the couch.
Ms Reynolds also knew Ms Higgins had been drunk to the point of memory loss, that security guards were concerned about her, that she had wanted to go to the doctor, and told a senior staff member ‘I remember him on top of me’.
Ms Young asked Ms Reynolds if she really didn’t know that something sexual might have happened, given her knowledge of those details.
Ms Reynolds said she was concerned about Ms Higgins, but she was ‘old and experienced enough’ to know not to jump to conclusions.
The senator told the court that she felt pleased that Ms Higgins was going to a doctor, and she had been given a pamphlet with counselling services.
On March 29, 2019, Ms Reynolds’ chief-of-staff Fiona Brown told her that Ms Higgins’ father was travelling to Canberra from the Gold Coast to support her.
In court on Friday, Ms Reynolds said she believed Ms Higgins’ father was coming due to the security breach – not because there was an assault.
Ms Young then pointed to an email Ms Reynolds received on March 30, 2019, from another employee, Lauren Barons, that said Ms Higgins had been provided with a brochure for the Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
She had also been provided with an assault hotline, 1800RESPECT.
The email referenced concern for Ms Higgins, and said Ms Reynolds should continue to support her and ‘provide her with the assistance she requires to make a decision on whether she does want to take this further’.
Ms Reynolds said she saw that email as ‘confirmation’ that Ms Higgins wasn’t raped because there was no allegation.
Ms Young asked Ms Reynolds if she knew that rape victims can take a long time to make a complaint, and the senator agreed.
However, she maintained that she did not know there was an assault because Ms Higgins had said she couldn’t remember.
Ms Reynolds said she was the right person to deal with the security breach, but ‘I felt well and truly out of my depth’ as an employer with a staff member who had been drunk.
She decided she was not the right person to discuss any personal complaints and was pleased she was going to the doctor and receiving services.
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