Brittany Higgins

Brittany Higgins is a former staffer for the Liberal Party of Australia and current media personality in Australia. Higgins came to prominence in 2021 after publicly alleging that she was raped in Parliament House, Canberra, in 2019.

Bruce Lehrmann was subsequently charged with and tried for the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins. While it initially appeared that there would be a hung jury the matter was dismissed following misconduct by a juror. Initially a retrial was set down for February 2023. On 2 December 2022 the Director of Public Prosecutions for the Australian Capital Territory, Shane Drumgold, announced that the charges against Bruce Lehrmann would be withdrawn. This appears to constitute a nolle prosequi.

As of 4 December 2022 Higgins is seeking $3million in compensation from two politicians and the Australian Federal government.

Time Line of Alleged Rape and Associated Events

Presented is a partial timeline of the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins and associated events.

Date	Events
7 February 2019	Higgins jokes via text with her ex-boyfriend about political sex scandles.
22 March 2019	Late in the evening Higgins enters an office workplace in Parliament House in the company of Bruce Lehrmann.
23 March 2019	Bruce Lehrmann leaves. Higgins is discovered alone in the office by a female security guard partially undressed. When the security guard asked her if she was ok she indicated she was "fine". Later in the day the office is cleaned by parliamentary cleaning staff.
25 March 2019	Higgins sent a text to her father in which she said "I'm fine but just wanted to give you a heads up there was an incident with a person at work being inappropriate. Can't give you details now."
26 March 2019	Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann are called in to separate disciplinary meetings stemming from their entry to Parliament House after hours, which is considered to be a security breach. Higgins alleges she was raped by Bruce Lehrmann.
1 April 2019	Bruce Lehrmann dismissed from his employment at Parliament House as a result of the security breach.
5 April 2019	A formal letter of termination is sent to Bruce Lehrmann.
13 April 2019	Higgins withdraws her complaint.
15 February 2021	Higgins goes public.
20 February 2021	Second woman claims she was sexually assaulted by Bruce Lehrmann.
22 February 2021	Third and fourth women claim they were sexually assaulted by Bruce Lehrmann.
31 May 2022	Original trial date of 6 June 2022 is deferred.
4 October 2022	Trial of Bruce Lehrmann begins.
27 October 2022	Mistrial declared following misconduct by a juror.
2 December 2022	The Director of Public Prosecutions for the Australian Capital Territory, Shane Drumgold, announced that the charges against Bruce Lehrmann would be withdrawn. This appears to constitute a nolle prosequi.
3 December 2022	It is publicly disclosed that sensitive information in improperly disclosed to Bruce Lehrmann's defence team in October 2021 and that police had doubts about Higgin's credibility before Bruce Lehrmann was charged.
4 December 2022	Higgins is reportedly seeking compensation from Senator Linda Reynolds, MP Michaelia Cash and the Commonwealth of Australia for personal injury.
13 December 2022	Higgins settles compensation claim with the Commonwealth.
27 January 2023	Senator Linda Reynolds sues David Sharaz, the partner of Brittany Higgins, for defamation.
18 February 2023	The Australian publishes details from Higgin's private diary.
5 April 2023	Bruce Lehrmann sues the ABC.

See Also

• Bruce Lehrmann
• David Sharaz
• Trial of Bruce Lehrmann

External Links

• Timeline at Western Advocate