A former Australian senator has won her defamation case against an ex-staffer who alleged she was raped at work and that the politician helped cover it up.
The case centres on allegations in 2021 by Brittany Higgins that she was sexually assaulted by a colleague at Parliament House and that Linda Reynolds – her boss – tried to “harass” and “silence” her over the claims.
In 2023, Reynolds sued Higgins, saying three social media posts had tarnished her reputation, impacted her health and curtailed her career.
After a five-week trial in the Supreme Court of Western Australia last year, Justice Paul Tottle on Wednesday found that two of the three posts were defamatory.
The judge also awarded Reynolds A$315,000 ($204,523; £151,000), plus interest, in damages.
The verdict is the latest in a string of legal battles that emerged as a result of the initial rape claims, with the case sparking massive protests and several high-level inquiries into the conduct of the judiciary and culture in parliament.
Bruce Lehrmann – who has always denied that he and Ms Higgins had sex at all – faced a criminal trial in 2022, but this was aborted due to juror misconduct. A retrial was later abandoned over mental health concerns for Ms Higgins.
But in 2024, a civil court found in a separate defamation trial that on the balance of probabilies, Lehrmann had raped Ms Higgins and told “deliberate lies”.
Lehrmann has appealed against this and is awaiting the decision of the ruling.
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