Brittany Higgins is an honest, credible witness who has not wavered in her sexual assault allegation, a jury has been told.
The trial of the man accused of raping Ms Higgins inside Parliament House is coming to an end with the prosecution completing its closing argument.
Bruce Lehrmann is being tried in the ACT Supreme Court after he pleaded not guilty to sexual intercourse without consent.
Ms Higgins alleges the assault took place inside the office of former cabinet minister Linda Reynolds, for whom she and Lehrmann worked as staffers, in 2019.
Prosecutor Shane Drumgold urged the jury not to be distracted by outside discussions of workplace culture in Parliament House and the Me Too movement.
He said the essence of the case was whether Ms Higgins made up her sexual assault allegation.
He put to the jury that if she did, it was an elaborate fabrication and she was “quite the actor”.
Mr Drumgold said Ms Higgins has not faltered in her evidence and that she was honest when she did not recall specific things.
He said her version of events had remained the same from the days after the alleged assault, to her police complaint two years later, to her appearance in the witness box.
“I submit that Ms Higgins is an inherently credible witness,” Mr Drumgold said.
Meanwhile, he said Lehrmann had given inconsistent accounts about his reasons for being at parliament on the night of the alleged assault to the security guards, to his boss and to the police.
Mr Drumgold said Lehrmann’s intent was to go to Parliament House with the “drunk” and “vulnerable” Ms Higgins.
“We say this was the most convenient place to get her (Ms Higgins) alone, not a sudden need to do some work in the middle of the night,” he said on Tuesday.
Mr Drumgold said the defence has argued that Ms Higgins made up a complaint to keep her staffer job in Senator Reynolds’ office but pointed out she did not reapply for that job after the election.
He told the jury there were strong political forces at play in the period immediately after the alleged events, through the 2019 federal election and afterwards.
“It’s abundantly clear from the actions of Senator Reynolds during this trial that those political forces were still a factor,” he said.
Mr Drumgold also said Ms Higgins had a right to be scared when she was considering making a police complaint.
“It’s clear that this is a young lady in the middle of strong political forces,” he said.
“We say she was right to be scared, she was right to be cautious and she was right to move slowly and carefully.”
On Monday, Mr Drumgold accused Senator Reynolds of trying to interfere in the trial by requesting a copy of Ms Higgins’ transcript of evidence and texting suggestions to the defence.
Senator Reynolds said she was not seeking to coach the cross-examination of her former staffer and was “curious” about what had been said in court.
Advised by her lawyer that it was “inappropriate” to access a transcript, Senator Reynolds did not receive one.
Closing arguments are continuing.
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