Linda Reynolds breaks her silence after court ruled Bruce Lehrmann likely committed rape on her ministerial sofa – as she shares a scathing message for Brittany Higgins

Linda Reynolds has broken her silence following Bruce Lehrmann’s evisceration in federal court, vowing she is ‘committed to fully vindicating’ her reputation.

The senator revealed that she will press ahead with her own defamation suit against her former staffer Brittany Higgins and Ms Higgins’ partner David Sharaz.

Ms Reynolds is suing both Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz separately in the WA Federal Court over social media comments the pair made about her.

Ms Reynolds had long been criticized for her handling of Ms Higgins’ rape allegation, which is alleged to have been committed by Mr Lehrmann on a sofa in her Parliament House office in the early hours of March 23, 2019, when she was serving as counsel. minister.

Judge Michael Lee, in his 324-page judgment handed down on Monday, found that the rape probably took place.

Ms Reynolds is suing both Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz (pictured) separately in the WA Federal Court over social media comments the pair made about her

But Justice Lee also found no evidence of the political ‘cover-up narrative’ which he said was pushed by Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz ‘from the first moment’ of their decision to speak to Lisa Wilkinson about the project in February 2021, describing it as “objectively short on facts but long on speculation and internal disagreements”.

Ms Reynolds said it ‘would be an understatement’ to say she was pleased with Justice Lee’s ruling, describing the whole affair as ‘the cover-up that never was’.

“For three years, I have endured intense public scrutiny, slander, vile trolling, and been demonized as the villain in a political cover-up story that I have always known to be untrue,” Reynolds said. Sydney Morning Herald.

Ms Reynolds said she and her former chief of staff Fiona Brown had both “had our reputations destroyed and have had our health seriously and irreparably compromised”.

Ms. Brown was one of the only witnesses in Mr. Lehrmann’s defamation case to receive a lot of praise from Justice Lee.

Ms Brown, who had been Mr Lehrmann and Ms Higgins’ boss, had shown ‘integrity’ in her handling of Ms Higgins’ case, Justice Lee found.

Ms Reynolds had long been criticized for her handling of Ms Higgins’ rape allegation, which is alleged to have been committed by Mr Lehrmann (pictured) on a sofa in her ministerial office at Parliament House in the early hours of March 23, 2019

While Judge Michael Lee, in his 324-page judgment handed down on Monday, found that the rape took place, he also found no evidence of the political ‘cover-up narrative’ he said was being pushed by Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz about Ms. Reynolds (pictured) and other figures from the Liberal Party

The employee had resisted political pressure to report Higgins’ incident to the federal police, the judge said.

“Despite persistent pressure from her minister and one of the minister’s colleagues to report the incident to the AFP – although she was unsure that an allegation of rape was being made at the time, and regardless of Mrs Higgins’ wishes – she pushed back ,’ Justice Lee noted.

He added: “She demonstrated integrity by resisting pressure she subjectively considered inappropriate and demonstrated a concern for Mrs Higgins’ autonomy and welfare,” he said.

‘Under the circumstances, it must be worse to be vilified as a callous apparatchik willing to throw up roadblocks to cover up criminal behavior at the behest of one’s political overlords than to argue.’

Ms Reynolds said she and her former chief of staff Fiona Brown (pictured) had both “had our reputations destroyed and have had our health seriously and irreparably compromised”

The judge also said he “without hesitation” preferred Ms Brown’s evidence to Ms Higgins and Mr Lehrmann’s.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said on Tuesday that Ms Reynolds had been ‘absolutely vindicated’.

“She is a first-class individual, a person of great honor and integrity, her reputation has been tarnished and she is entitled to pursue the case in the way that she is,” he said, referring to Ms Reynolds’ defamation case.

“I would have thought, on the basis of the verdict yesterday, people would try to settle the case against Linda Reynolds and give her a full apology for the way her reputation has been tarnished.”

Nine hours of mediation talks held last month between Ms Higgins, Mr Sharaz and Ms Reynolds failed to reach a settlement.

Ms Higgins’ was admitted to hospital several hours after talks broke down.

Unless the couple decide to settle, a trial is expected to begin, likely to begin in May and last six weeks.