loading
“It’s become a trial that has its own momentum,” McCallum said Tuesday morning, adding that jurors who attended last year’s March for Justice outside Parliament, or follow Higgins on Twitter, they “might” want to exclude. themselves.
“If you are loyal to the party, if you have formed a preconceived notion about this case, which you don’t think you can depart from in the face of the evidence, you should come forward and tell me,” he said . said
Recounting the prosecution’s version of events leading up to the alleged rape, Drumgold said Higgins, who had been working for former Coalition minister Steven Ciobo, and Lehrmann were part of two separate groups that converged on Dock Bar and Restaurant in Kingston, Canberra.
The court heard Higgins had about 10 drinks at the Dock, which had been bought by Lehrmann and others, and a hit of liquor elsewhere, at 88mph, which was later attended by members of the group, and where Higgins was so drunk she was falling over. finished.
“She says that was the point where she knew she had to leave because she was as drunk as she’d ever been in her life,” Drumgold said.
The court heard that Lehrmann suggested they share a taxi and reminded him he needed to stop by parliament and pick something up from work.
Drumgold said that when they arrived at 1:41 a.m., Lehrmann told security on an intercom that he had been asked to come pick up some documents. However, three days later he told a manager he had gone up to “have a glass of whisky”.
Drumgold said Lehrmann gave police two reasons for going to parliament: firstly, that he had left the keys in his office, and secondly, that after speaking with Defense staff at the dock, he was ask him to go back and stick a round of questions. brief
“The second reason we’re going to say it’s a lie,” Drumgold said, adding that the first was also highly unlikely if he had forgotten his construction pass.
The court heard that one of the security guards at the ministerial entrance observed that Higgins, who had had to take off his shoes to go through a metal detector, “couldn’t put his shoes back on for his whole life.”
The couple was then taken to the office and security left.
Drumgold said Lehrmann said in his police interview that after entering the office, Higgins went into the minister’s suite and went to his desk, got what he needed for the weekend, asked an Uber and left. Uber’s order history will come under scrutiny.
The court heard Higgins could not remember whether he had gone to the couch willingly “or if he had been guided there”.
“She claims that during the sexual assault … her dress was still on her body and crumpled around her waist,” Drumgold said.
The court heard that when a security guard checked on her at 4.15am, Higgins was lying naked in the lounge.
“This is a greater state of undress than the complainant remembers during the sexual assault,” Drumgold said.
More to come.
Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, opinion and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can subscribe to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.