When asked whether she believed leaking the emails would be taken as a breach of the confidentiality requirement, Reynolds told the court she had never consented to the government taking over her defence.
“They may well have never wanted it to see the light of day,” Reynolds said under oath.
In publicly challenging the process for the settlement with Higgins, Young told the court Reynolds ought to have known it would cast doubt over whether she should have received it.
“I had no issue with Ms Higgins, my issue was with the Attorney-General and how the law had been manipulated to muzzle me,” Reynolds responded. “It was about what I saw as government corruption.”
“You wanted it publicly known as to your truth about the handling of the rape allegation. You wanted Higgins to be publicly questioned about her version of events,” Young put to Reynolds.
“It wasn’t my truth, it was the truth. I wanted to do that at the mediation behind closed doors, but I was not afforded that opportunity. I never wanted to be in the position of having to defend things here,” Reynolds responded.
Brittany Higgins.Credit: Steven Siewert
Higgins was paid $2.4 million by the federal government following the settlement for lost earnings, medical expenses, legal fees and the humiliation she had experienced.
The court heard Reynolds had also told Albrechtsen that Higgins’ now-husband David Sharaz “abruptly resigned from his job”, a move Young suggested could only have been aimed at further denigrating the pair in the media. Reynolds rejected the claim.
Reynolds has been pursuing Higgins for damages, as well as aggravated damages, for the past year over several social media posts she claims accuse her of using the media to harass Higgins.
She claims the posts were false and defamatory of her, brought her into public hatred and damaged her physical and mental health.
Higgins has allegedly sold her home in France to vigorously defend the claim on the basis the imputations of harassment and the mishandling of her alleged rape are true.
The trial continues.
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