Linda Reynolds vs Brittany Higgins: Ex-senior AFP cop shocked senator’s couch was ‘steam cleaned’ after rape

A senior police officer has told a court she was shocked to learn that the couch on which Brittany Higgins was allegedly raped was steam cleaned before it was forensically examined.

The high-stakes defamation trial brought by Linda Reynolds against her former junior media adviser was also told on Thursday that Ms Higgins said in her initial police report that in the immediate aftermath, she “put what happened away” in her mind.

The notes were read out after former Australian Federal Police assistant commissioner Leanne Close was questioned about a meeting she had with the outgoing Liberal senator on Thursday April 4, 2019.

Ms Close told the WA Supreme Court that she had been briefed that it had occurred some two weeks prior.

But Senator Reynolds and her then chief of staff Fiona Brown said they became aware of the allegation on the Tuesday April 2 and that the alleged offence was on Saturday March 30.

Ms Close said she didn’t understand how two intoxicated staffers - Ms Higgins and her then colleague Bruce Lehrmann - had made it through security to access Parliament House after hours.

Ms Close said she was “quite surprised and taken aback” to hear the couch was inside Senator Reynolds’ office suite, having believed it was in an “outer office”.

Senator Reynolds pointed to the lounge behind her, saying “on my couch, there”, she said.

“I thought ‘we’re sitting in the middle of a forensic crime scene that hasn’t been clinically examined’,” Ms Close told the court.

“I was also confused about the actual date.

“I just received conflicting information about when it had occurred.”

Ms Close said she was also concerned that “security staff had entered the office and seen a woman in a state of undress ... not checking that she was okay and calling an ambulance, potentially” and that the Parliament House superintendent hadn’t been alerted immediately.

Senator Reynolds’ lawyer Martin Bennett asked Ms Close if she learnt that the couch “was not, in fact, steam-cleaned” and she replied: “No”.

In her testimony earlier this month, Senator Reynolds said that the meeting with Ms Close “was the first and only time that anybody had advised me that this was an investigation now of rape or sexual assault”.

The former minister said she then called in Ms Brown and informed her “the incident, which I now understood to be a sexual assault, had actually occurred in my office on that couch”.

Mr Bennett read to the court Ms Higgins’ initial complaint in which she said that she couldn’t recall everything from the night when she, Mr Lehrmann and other stressed colleagues went out drinking for three hours.

“Put in a taxi. Gave Bruce my address … I couldn’t write my name. I gave a version of my signature.

“I don’t remember going up to the suite. I remember being on the Minister’s couch … I remember him being on top of me … I said something like ‘no don’t’. He left and I just stayed there.

“When I woke up, it was morning. I remember thinking it was almost 8 o’clock.

“I was thinking ‘why am I here? Are people about to get in?’

“I felt grossed out as I could smell what had happened on me.

“I went into the minister’s bathroom, used her deodorant – got sick. I borrowed a jacket from a goodwill box … I then called an Uber.”

She reported speaking to housemates about it and being “cordial” towards Mr Lehrmann on the Monday and Tuesday afterwards, having considered him a friend after knowing him for about a month.

“I put what happened away so it wouldn’t be all narrative to my life story.

“I’m quite good at doing this.

“The chief of staff received a report from PMs office for accessing the ministerial suite. This incident was a factor in Bruce’s termination.

“I had an interview with the minister and explained what happened. I do not want to report this officially, just off the record.”

Mr Bennett went on to say: “The female staffer had told other staff no further details, and that they didn’t want it reported until after budget as the alleged offender was too critical to getting this work done”.

After Ms Close - the final witness - completed her testimony, Mr Bennett applied to have Brisbane-based psychiatrist Julio Clavijo give evidence via videolink, saying he had penned two “important” psychiatric reports about Ms Higgins on the same date but with materially different content.

One of the reports was relied upon in Ms Higgins’ $2.4 million settlement with the Federal Government after she claimed damages for lost earnings, medical expenses and legal fees, and mishandling of her complaint.

Ms Higgins argues that Senator Reynolds stating publicly that she had referred the matter to the National Anti-Corruption Commission constituted harassment and justified one of her social media posts that sparked the defamation action.

Rejecting the application, Justice Paul Tottle said he was “very comfortably satisfied” he could rule on that defence without the reports and there may be acceptable explanation as to why they were different.

Outside court, Mr Bennett said the reports were “really relevant” to the commission.

Ms Higgins, who now lives in France, was set to give evidence in person but in a bombshell development on Monday, her lawyer Rachael Young SC said there were several reasons she would not attend including ongoing health issues.

That news came as Ms Higgins’ lawyers accepted that Ms Brown was not fit enough to give evidence.

Senator Reynolds is suing Ms Higgins and her husband David Sharaz over social media posts the pair made in 2022 and 2023, which she says damaged her reputation, taking a big toll on her health.

The posts were critical of Senator Reynolds’ handling of Ms Higgins’ allegation.

Mr Lehrmann faced trial in 2022, accused of raping Ms Higgins, but it was aborted due to juror misconduct.

The charge was ultimately dropped and Mr Lehrmann continues to maintain his innocence.

Mr Lehrmann lost a subsequent civil defamation case against Network Ten and journalist Lisa Wilkinson in April this year when Federal Court Justice Michael Lee determined, on the balance of probabilities, that he had raped Ms Higgins at Parliament House.

Justice Lee also found that the other claim in the Network Ten story, of a political cover-up involving Senator Reynolds and others, was not true.

Mr Lehrmann is appealing the decision.

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