Brittany Higgins is sent home early after being accused of taking a crucial photo of a bruise TWO YEARS after claiming she was raped – as questions swirl over the selfies she sent to her ex in her white dress

Brittany Higgins was sent home early on Friday as Judge Michael Lee wondered whether he would allow Bruce Lehrmann’s lawyer, Steven Whybrow SC, to question her about a scathing speech she made outside court after the criminal trial last year.

It was the end of a long week.

The first thing Judge Michael Lee did on Friday morning was read out a letter of complaint from a member of the public who said his coughing practices in court were “disgusting”.

Judge Lee laughed and said he hoped the cough would improve, before Lisa Wilkinson’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC suggested he attach hand sanitiser to his robes.

Ms Higgins was then called to the stand for the fourth time this week.

She was visibly emotional on Wednesday and Thursday, but on Friday her eyes seemed decidedly dry. She didn’t break down once.

Instead, she responded angrily to Mr Whybrow when he questioned her about the white cocktail dress she wore on the night of the alleged rape, a photo of a bruise on her leg and the MPs to whom she revealed her rape.

In response to ‘yes’ or ‘no’ questions, Ms Higgins began giving a series of long-winded answers.

At one point she gave a brief monologue to the court about her former bosses, Senator Linda Reynolds and Fiona Brown, telling the court that she didn’t think they were “bad people” but that she just didn’t feel that they had handed her rape accusation. Good.

“That’s what I have to say,” she added.

Judge Michael Lee had to remind Ms Higgins several times to comply with the question.

“Sorry,” she would reply, before giving her one-word response.

There have been two cases of someone sneezing in the public gallery.

“Luckily,” Mrs. Higgins said into her microphone. Twice.

She was ashen-faced as part of a five-hour meeting with David Sharaz, Lisa Wilkinson and Channel Ten producer Angus Llewellyn was played in court.

In the first clip, Mr Sharaz was heard telling Wilkinson that he wanted an almond latte.

The court was then told that this was the wrong clip and that the correct one would be played shortly.

The segment was recorded in January 2021 – a few weeks before The Project episode aired – and appeared to show Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz publicizing her allegations against Wilkinson and Mr Llewellyn.

Mr Sharaz asked Wilkinson if she knew any “friendly MPs” who could ask questions of the then Liberal government during Question Time.

“Oh, definitely Albo,” Ms Wilkinson replied, adding: “He’s a bit of a dead duck at the moment,” adding: “Tanya Plibersek, absolutely.”

Mr Sharaz told the group: ‘I have a friend in Labour, Katy Gallagher from Labour, who will look into this [Ms Higgins’ rape allegations] and get on with it.”

‘So sitting week, the story comes out, they have to answer questions at question time, it’s a mess for [the Liberal government].

‘March, the Senate estimates. Hopefully we can try the [CCTV] footage for Britt’s clarity, and then [PM Scott Morrison] will call an election whenever he calls one.

“That’s why Britt chose that timeline.”

On Friday, Whybrow asked Ms Higgins if she could honestly say that one of her motivations for going public with her rape allegations was not to cause political damage to the then Liberal government.

Ms Higgins responded: “It wasn’t about the Liberal Party, it was about women in politics.”

Wilkinson, meanwhile, pursed her lips.

She wore her eighth pantsuit since the trial began last week. Previously she chose green, pink and black, but Friday’s color was ‘turtledove’ – a variety of beige.

By the time the recording was played in court, she had purchased headphones to ensure she could hear the proceedings clearly and sat stone-faced as she listened to her own voice echo through the courtroom.

Ms Higgins was also accused of taking a photo of a bruise, which she claimed was caused by Mr Lehrmann’s knee holding her leg open during the alleged rape in 2019.

She was forced to admit that the version of the photo she sent to Channel Ten was a screenshot with no metadata.

Mr Whybrow suggested to Ms Higgins that the screenshot of the photo was taken while she was on a plane at 8.45am on January 27, 2021 – before her five-hour meeting with Lisa Wilkinson, Ten producer Angus Llewellyn and David Sharaz.

“Can you explain why the photo of the bruise was screenshotted that morning?” asked Mr Whybrow.

She replied, “I don’t know.”

He then asked why she had sent Mr Llewellyn the screenshot instead of the original photo, to which Ms Higgins explained she had not realized she had sent a screenshot.

Mr Whybrow said: I submit that there is no evidence that this photograph existed before January 27, 2021.’

Ms Higgins claimed she took the photo in 2019 and rejected Mr Whybrow’s suggestion.

It was also revealed that Mr Sharaz sent a timeline of Ms Higgins’ allegations to ‘like, half the press gallery’ after February 15, 2021 – while she was passed out on Valium.

She then admitted several aspects of that timeline were wrong, telling the court she forgot to remove Mr Lehrmann’s name from that document before it was distributed to more than 100 reporters in Canberra.

“This was supposed to be redacted,” she told the court.

‘By who?’ asked Mr Whybrow.

At the end of the day, everyone knew that she had sold selfies to her ex-boyfriend in the same dress she claimed she was raped in, and that they had shared a few “sexts” after the breakup.

She was probably ready to leave by the time the judge declared Friday’s hearing over.

At that point, Judge Lee had barely coughed.

The defamation hearing will resume at 9.30am on Tuesday.