Former political staffer Brittany Higgins was taken to hospital after Tuesday’s nine-hour court mediation session for defamation proceedings brought by Senator Linda Reynolds, it’s been revealed.
The Liberal senator spent most of Tuesday in closed-door talks with Higgins and fiance David Sharaz at Perth’s David Malcolm Justice Centre before confirming her defamation suit was still ongoing.
At the time, she confirmed there were no plans to return to court yesterday, which had previously been scheduled for a follow-up hearing.
Last night, Reynolds wished Higgins a swift recovery.
“I had been confidentially made aware of this very unfortunate development and am very concerned for Ms Higgins’ well being,” she said, in a statement to 9news.com.au.
“Legal negotiations are unfortunately sometimes difficult and testing for all participants and yesterday was a tiring and difficult day for all of us.
“I attempted to minimise stress by avoiding any direct contact that may have been confronting and relying on a very experienced Judge to interact with Ms Higgins.”
The Sydney Morning Herald reported Higgins was taken to Royal Perth Hospital but it was unclear what she was treated for and the hospital said there was no record she was admitted.
Reynolds said she proposed a two-week break yesterday to “enable Miss Higgins and all parties to recover and get past the stress of the court attendance and significant media attention”.
The former defence minister is suing former Liberal staffers Higgins and Sharaz over a series of social media posts she says damaged her reputation.
The couple said nothing to waiting media as they left court on Tuesday.
They left Australia in December to start a new life in France but had to return to Perth for these hearings.
Lawyers for both parties had appeared in Western Australian Supreme Court in February to sort out key dates in case the mediation fails and a trial is needed.
Reynolds is suing Sharaz over tweets he made and a Facebook comment in 2022.
Among the defamatory imputations claimed against Sharaz’s tweets were that Reynolds pressured Higgins not to proceed with a genuine complaint to police, “is a hypocrite in her advocacy for women’s interests and empowerment”, interfered in Bruce Lehrmann’s trial and bullied Higgins.
Reynolds claims she was also defamed by Sharaz’s reply to a comment on her Facebook page that asked how she was still in politics having “destroyed” Higgins.
The commenter added, “You’re a monster who deserves to be in jail”.
Sharaz responded: “Thanks for reminding her. I hope she hears this every day until she dies”, the senator’s statement of claim says.
Higgins is accused of posting defamatory material on two occasions on her Instagram and Twitter accounts.
Higgins alleged she was raped in 2019 by Lehrmann inside Reynolds’ ministerial office, where he also worked as a staffer.
Lehrmann consistently denied the allegation, and his trial in the ACT Supreme Court was derailed by juror misconduct.
Prosecutors decided not to pursue further action, citing concerns of the impact it may have on Higgins’ mental health.
He has since been charged with raping another woman in Queensland and his lawyers have indicated he will plead not guilty.
