Brittany Higgins unavailable for court as trial is paused
The trial of the former Australian Liberal Party staffer accused of raping Brittany Higgins has been paused.
Higgins’ then-colleague, Bruce Lehrmann is charged with sexual intercourse without consent.
Higgins claims to have been raped by the individual in 2019 at Australia’s Parliament House.
Today, she was suppose to give evidence in court.
The case was scheduled to start at 10:00AM AEST, but Higgins is now unavailable.
Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denies having sexual intercourse with Higgins.
Higgins faced cross-examination last week by Lehrmann’s defence lawyer Steven Whybrow.
On Friday, Whybrow contended she pretended to have doctor’s appointments in the week after the alleged assault to “bolster” her story.
It followed Higgins telling the court she made multiple doctor’s appointments with the intention of going but could not bring herself to attend.
“I intended to do the right thing but every time I went home I was collapsing and unable to get out of bed because I was so deeply depressed because I had been assaulted at work by a colleague,” she told the court.
Whybrow then asked if she didn’t go to the doctor because she hadn’t had sex with anybody on the night she alleges she was raped.
“Nothing you are saying right now is true whatsoever and it’s deeply insulting,” Higgins said.
The trial is estimated to run for at least another five weeks.
