Closing remarks have begun in the trial of Bruce Lehrmann, the man accused of raping Brittany Higgins.
Lehrmann is facing trial in the ACT Supreme Court after he pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent. Lehrmann denies he and Higgins had any sexual interaction.
Higgins has alleged she was raped by Lehrmann inside parliament house in the office of former defence minister Linda Reynolds in 2019.
She reopened her police complaint against Lehrmann in 2021, two years after the alleged rape.
On Tuesday, ACT director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold completed his closing argument, telling the jury that Higgins was an honest and credible witness, who has maintained consistency in her allegation for a period of three years.
He also said the evidence showed she told nine people about the alleged rape in a period of 16 days, and her story did not falter.
Drumgold also said that this case was not about politics, or political movements, but about what happened inside parliament house on the night of the 23rd March 2019.
He also said it clear there were strong political forces at play after the alleged assault that impacted Higgins’ decision to tread carefully about making a complaint.
“This is a young lady in the middle of strong political forces and we say she was right to be scared,” he said.
“She was right to be cautious and we say she was right to move slowly and carefully in handing her life over to the police.”
Lehrmann’s defence lawyer, Steven Whybrow, told the court that it could not be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Higgins knows what happened after she entered parliament house with Lehrmann that night.
“We can’t be satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that she knows what happened,” he said.
Whybrow told the jury that Lehrmann maintains he did not have sex with Higgins.
“Our contention is that it didn’t. There was no sex. It didn’t happen,” he said.
Whybrow said that Higgins had found herself in a “pretty embarrassing” situation after being found in the defence minister’s office after a night of drinking.
The closing arguments came after Senator Linda Reynolds took to the witness box on Monday, where she revealed she had sent a text message to defence lawyer Steven Whybrow, while Higgins was cross-examined, asking for the transcript.
The case continues in the ACT Supreme Court on Wednesday.