Brittany Higgins says she refuses to be intimidated by the repeated reporting of her leaked private text messages, which she says is a public violation and humiliation.
Messages from Higgins’ phone have featured in stories in the Australian and Daily Mail since Friday.
The recent stories outlined private message exchanges she had with friends, journalists and her partner, David Sharaz, which contained information including that she had Indigenous heritage and her plans to reveal her rape allegations.
Stories using the leaked material have been published by at least three outlets since last December, lawyers for Higgins claim.
Higgins alleged her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann raped her in Parliament House in 2019.
Lehrmann, who pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent, has always denied the allegation of rape and no findings have been made against him.
Lehrmann was tried by the ACT supreme court in October but a mistrial was declared due to juror misconduct.
Prosecutors later dropped the charges against him because of fears about the impact a second trial would have on Higgins’ mental health.
Higgins tweeted on Monday morning: “Reminder – this is my phone data I provided to the AFP to prosecute my rape case.
“None of it was tabled in court.
“And now, it continues to be leaked to the media without my consent.”
She said that the leaks represented “such a dangerous precedent to tolerate a victim’s private data to be weaponised in this manner without any recourse”.
The source of the leaked material remains unclear, and lawyers for Lehrmann have denied that he is involved. In her tweets, Higgins referenced police accidentally providing her phone data – including counselling notes – to lawyers for Lehrmann, without them being properly redacted.
Lawyers for Lehrmann have previously said this file was not accessed and was deleted once the error was reported.
But a separate download of the contents of Higgins’ and Lehrmann’s phones was also conducted as part of the investigation, with these downloads from both devices provided to the prosecution and defence.
The leaked material used in the stories was not used as evidence during Lehrmann’s trial, nor did the court grant the media access to it.
The leaking of the material from Higgins’ phone has featured repeatedly in a defamation case brought by Lehrmann against several media outlets.
In June, the ongoing use of the material was referred to as an “apparent contempt” by Sue Chrysanthou SC, who is acting for Lisa Wilkinson in the proceedings. The media outlets deny any wrongdoing.
Higgins said in her tweets that she would “see you in the defamation trial come October”.
“You can continue to leak every text message, WhatsApp and email from my phone,” Higgins tweeted.
“Yes, it’s embarrassing. It is such an intimate (and ongoing) form of public violation + humiliation
“However, I refuse to be intimidated or retreat into myself.”
The latest reporting involving leaked material comes as the ACT chief minister, Andrew Barr, confirmed that the final report by an independent board of inquiry investigating Lehrmann’s prosecution would not be released for almost a month, despite being provided to the government on Monday.
“Subject to the contents of the report, and any legal implications, the chief minister currently intends to table all, or part, of the report during the August parliamentary sitting of the ACT legislative assembly,” a spokesperson for Barr said.
“Again, subject to the recommendations of the report, the government may provide an interim response to some, or all, of the recommendations when the report is tabled in the legislative assembly. Subject to the recommendations, a final government response may take several months.”
The independent board of inquiry chaired by Walter Sofronoff KC heard little evidence about the leaked messages.
This is despite its terms of reference including inquiring into whether any police officers breached their duties by improperly providing information to people in relation to Lehrmann’s trial, and “any matter reasonably incidental” to this issue.
There is no evidence the leaks came from police and officers who investigated Lehrmann denied they had any improper dealings with the media, according to statements provided to the inquiry.
