A powerful victim’s advocate who stood by Brittany Higgins‘ side every day in court knew her boyfriend, David Sharaz, prior to the explosive rape allegations.
Heidi Yates, the ACT victims of crime commissioner, made the revelation on Thursday during a hearing of a Board of Inquiry, which is looking into the way the investigation and jury trial into Bruce Lehrmann was handled by prosecutors and police.
Ms Higgins alleged Mr Lehrmann raped her in Parliament House in 2019. He has always maintained his innocence.
During his jury trial in the ACT Supreme Court in October, Ms Yates was a permanent fixture by Ms Higgins’ side – appearing heavily in news coverage of the case.
On Thursday, Ms Yates was questioned by the counsel assisting the inquiry, Erin Longbottom, about the way she became involved with Ms Higgins’ matter.
Ms Yates also detailed multiple moments where she became concerned for Ms Higgins’ life. One was after Lisa Wilkinson’s disastrous Logies speech, and another was after her second police interview when an ambulance was called.
ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates addressed the Board of Inquiry on Thursday morning
Earlier on Thursday, Ms Yates agreed with Ms Longbottom’s suggestion that she first heard about the rape allegations on January 30, 2021, after she spoke at a community event.
Another speaker approached her and said he knew of a woman who was going to make a sexual assault complaint that would ‘likely attract media attention’, and asked her for a message of support.
Ms Yates agreed, but said she did not meet with Ms Higgins until months later in April 2021.
Ms Longbottom said: ‘By April, Ms Higgins had been public about her allegation of sexual assault and there was an interview broadcast on The Project of that year, and on April 26 you received an email from Ms Higgins’ partner [David Sharaz].’
Ms Yates replied ‘Yes’.
Ms Longbottom continued: ‘You knew Mr Sharaz from his time as a local news journalist in Canberra?’
Ms Yates responded: ‘Vaguely, yes.’
The inquiry heard that Ms Higgins’ now-fiance, David Sharaz, knew Ms Yates ‘vaguely’ from his time as a Canberra journalist
The victims advocate then agreed that she spoke with Mr Sharaz on the phone, during which time he explained Ms Higgins was looking for support in relation to an upcoming meeting with then-prime minister Scott Morrison.
Ms Yates first met with Ms Higgins on April 27, three days prior to the meeting with Mr Morrison.
‘Ms Higgins sought information from you about systemic issues affecting sexual assault victims,’ Ms Longbottom asked.
Ms Yates recalled Ms Higgins was looking for advice about systemic issues regarding sexual assault complaints, rather than advice about her own alleged assault.
‘She spoke about the issue she wanted to talk to about, such as access and better pathways for victims to make a report, and timely therapeutic support … so we provided her with information about those matters,’ Ms Yates said.
Ms Yates then recalled she was invited to attend two meetings with Ms Higgins on April 30 – one with Mr Morrison and another with former opposition leader Anthony Albanese and Tanya Plibersek.
Brittany Higgins’ struggles
Later on Thursday, Ms Yates told the inquiry she had permission from Ms Higgins to speak about personal matters – including the moments her mental health declined.
The first occasion was in May 2021, after Ms Higgins gave her second interview with police.
Detective Superintendent Scott Moller phoned Ms Yates to say police had found evidence that Ms Higgins had been searching for information about how to end her life.
‘During that phone call, Detective Superintendent Moller told you that police were accessing Ms Higgins’ phone?,’ Ms Longbottom asked.
Ms Yates replied: ‘Yes.’
‘And he expressed to you some concerns about what he found on that phone. Yes. Can you identify what those concerns were?,’ Ms Longbottom asked.
‘I’m just pausing here noting that these are sensitive matters,’ Ms Yates responded.
Lisa Wilkinson is pictured, left, with Brittany Higgins
‘Superintendent Moller informed me that they had access to material on her phone and they were concerned that she was looking at suicide and self harm websites,’ she said.
‘I asked her whether her psychologist was someone that she could trust around how she was feeling, and she said that, no.’
Ms Yates recalled that Ms Higgins said the protections stopping her from self-harming in that past were no longer in place.
‘She was talking about the fact that every time she went online, there was a furore,’ Ms Yates said.
‘People were contacting her all the time. She can’t get away from it, she can’t get around the constant contact. She said for the last 100 days, ‘I’ve been finding out more about what’s happened to myself from TV’, and I don’t know how to make that better anymore.’
Ms Yates called an ambulance for Ms Higgins because she believed there was an immediate threat to her life.
Another occasion was in June 2022, on the day a temporary stay application was granted by the Chief Justice – which meant Mr Lehrmann’s trial would be moved from June to October.
‘That was in relation to comments made at the Logies,’ Ms Yates said.
She was referring to a speech Lisa Wilkinson made during her acceptance speech at the Logie awards – during which the TV host appeared to align herself with Ms Higgins.
The hearing was delayed over fears Wilkinson’s speech could bias a jury.
The walk into court
Ms Yates flanked Ms Higgins into court throughout the Lehrmann trial
Ms Yates was also asked about her decision to walk into court with Ms Higgins every day – given that her title of ‘victims of crime commissioner’ could imply that Mr Lehrmann was guilty.
Ms Longbottom pointed to criticism of Ms Yates in relation to the fact that she was the ‘public face’ of the support for Ms Higgins – choosing to walk beside her into court every day.
Ms Yates said those criticisms ‘concern me greatly’, but told the inquiry there was general ‘misunderstanding’ as to what her role actually was.
According to the ACT Human Rights Act, the victims of crime commissioner has the ability to support an alleged victim – whether there is a conviction recorded against the defendant or not.
She said: ‘The ACT government has enabled my office to provide care – if that is known and understood, together we can improve community faith in the justice system, and that each of us has a different role’.
Ms Yates then told the inquiry that Ms Higgins decided on the first day of the trial to enter the court in full view of cameras and reporters, even though she was given a range of alternatives.
‘Ms Higgins was entitled to to support from our office and she asked me to support her, and it wasn’t until the day the trial started that she decided whether she would choose to enter publicly, or take the other options that are available to her,’ she recalled.
When asked whether it was inappropriate for her to publicly appear with Ms Higgins, and whether her presence by Ms Higgins’ side created confusion, Ms Yates said she did not think so.
She added that said no other governmental body, including police and the DPP, implied there was any issue with her presence by Ms Higgins’ side.
Ms Yates further stated that she would have listened to any advice stating her presence was inappropriate and would have taken action, but pointed out the criticism largely came after the trial collapsed.
She was asked if, in hindsight, she would still show public support for Ms Higgins. Ms Yates said it was difficult to know, but she would take this situation into consideration if another alleged victim asked for the same kind of support.
Walter Sofronoff, who is leading the inquiry, suggested the title ‘victims of crime commissioner’ stripped Mr Lehrmann’s human right to the presumption of innocence.
Mr Sofronoff suggested another title, like the ‘complainants commissioner’ might be better suited.
The hearing continues.
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