Brittany Higgins has described the ongoing publication of her private text messages provided to police, prosecutors and Bruce Lehrmann’s defence team during the trial as “a form of public violation.”
Hitting back after another 48 hours of her private text messages being published again in two media outlets, Ms Higgins said that she refused to be intimidated despite how deeply distressing and traumatic she found the media coverage.
It followed stories over the weekend over her “family secret” in The Daily Mail - the fact that her paternal grandfather had Aboriginal ancestry and private messages she exchanged with journalists and her partner about her case and the women’s march for justice.
Ms Higgins has spoken openly of her mental health struggles in the past and has been hospitalised multiple times in recent years including for suicide ideation.
“You can continue to leak every text message, WhatsApp, and emails from my phone,’’ she said on Sunday.
“Yes, it’s embarrassing. It is such an intimate (and ongoing) form of public violation + humiliation.
“However I refuse to be intimidated or retreat into myself. So, see you in the defamation trial come October.”
Ms Higgins has never claimed Aboriginal ancestry publicly but discussed her grandfather’s family background in a private text message with a friend when seeking work in Melbourne.
The revelation was mocked by Sky News broadcaster Andrew Bolt in an online blog post.
“Brittany Higgins is now Aboriginal, too? And even got a job from Victoria’s version of Labor’s Aboriginal-only Voice?,’’ he wrote.
“Dear God. This Aboriginal identity craze is just too much.
“Text messages uncovered by the Daily Mail show that friend, Emma Webster, then asking Higgins what “mob” she was, adding the Assembly’s “co-chair and CEO are curious”.
“Higgins replied that her grandfather was connected ‘to either the Nyawigi or Gugu Badhun people.’ But ‘we’re not entirely sure which one and her grandfather didn’t want to progress any further’ with inquiries after reconnecting with his siblings from the orphanage”.
“Be clear: I’m NOT calling Higgins a fake. Her grandfather may indeed have Aboriginal ancestry, but I wonder how anyone could claim Higgins is in any meaningful way Aboriginal herself, based on such uncertain connections.”
Ms Higgins is expected to be called as a witness in the defamation trial launched by Bruce Lehrmann against Channel 10 and the ABC over the broadcast of Ms Higgins national press club address.
Mr Lehrmann was charged but never convicted of rape after the trial collapsed when a juror brought an academic paper on rape into the jury room. He maintains his innocence.
The Federal Court has previously heard arguments that Brittany Higgins’ text messages being leaked to the media may be a deliberate effort to influence a defamation case.
High-profile defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC, who is representing Channel 10’s Lisa Wilkinson, told the Federal Court that an “orchestrated campaign” appeared to be underway to influence the proceedings.
“The publicity of the last few days could only have been calculated to put pressure on witnesses not to co-operate,” Ms Chrysanthou said.
She suggested in court that Mr Lehrmann be asked if he was involved in leaking the text messages to the media.
“We’ve made inquiries of all other parties,” she said.
But Mr Lehrmann’s barrister, Matthew Richardson SC, said his client “absolutely denies” the suggestion he was involved in leaking evidence which he described as a “grave and serious allegation”.
Mr Lehrmann’s barrister Steve Whybrow and solicitors Mark O’Brien Legal has also publicly denied any involvement in the leaks.
The texts that have been leaked to the media were never before previously released into the public domain by any court including the ACT Supreme Court, the Sofronoff inquiry or the Federal Court.
The entire contents of Ms Higgins phone was provided to police during the investigation and a Cellebrite report prepared capturing every photograph, text message and WhatsApp conversation on her phone.
The contents have now been relentlessly leaked to the media in a steady stream of stories since June.
In The Weekend Australian, Ms Higgins text messages with news.com.au were also published in a 2000 word discussion of her private conversation with a journalist.
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