‘I carry the guilt’: Reynolds breaks down over airing Kitching warning of political firestorm
WA Liberal senator Linda Reynolds has broken down on the witness stand, describing her guilt over telling Labor senators that late Victorian senator Kimberley Kitching warned her the party intended to “rain hell” on her over Brittany Higgins’ alleged rape, and doubling down on claims the saga led to Kitching’s death.
On Tuesday, the former defence minister told the Western Australian Supreme Court Kitching’s decision to hand an anonymous letter about the alleged rape over to the Australian Federal Police, and not her party, had left Kitching ostracised by her colleagues.
Liberal senator Linda Reynolds during the defamation trial against former staffer Brittany Higgins. Credit: Holly Thompson/ Supplied
And she made national headlines when she made the extraordinary claim the saga led to Kitching’s death of a heart attack on March 10, 2022, at the age of 52.
Reynolds left the court in tears on Friday after telling Higgins’ barrister Rachael Young, SC, that her remarks reflected her guilt at revealing to other politicians that Kitching had tipped her off to the impending political firestorm in 2021, rather than reflected a desire to have her claims aired in the press.
The late Labor senator Kimberley Kitching in 2016.
“You sought to make that comment knowing that remark would be publicly reported, didn’t you?” Young asked during cross-examination.
“I’m certainly not the first one to come to that conclusion,” Reynolds replied.
“It displays my guilt. If I hadn’t revealed it was her… that’s what led to her being ostracised.
“I had kept it in confidence, even after everything. It was my guilt. I shouldn’t have weakened and told anyone. Everyone can see how angry she was with me. She was losing weight. But I carry the guilt of telling the senators and … her being bullied to death.”
Young had previously taken Reynolds to a news report about a seven-page letter Kitching penned to colleagues in June 2021 in which she rejected Reynolds’ account of events.
On the final day of evidence in her defamation trial with Higgins, Reynolds told the court she was aware of allegations Kitching had been bullied and Kitching’s denial that the “rain hell” conversation had occurred.
And she pointed to footage that showed her interaction with Kitching in parliament on the day she claimed the first warning was fired.
Young put it to Reynolds that her extreme guilt had impacted her ability to give testimony on those senators objectively.
Reynolds conceded she was correct, before leaving the witness stand and embracing a friend in the public gallery.
For the past year, Reynolds has been pursuing Higgins for damages as well as aggravated damages over several social media posts in which she claims she was accused of using the media to harass her former staffer.
Higgins is defending the claim on the basis the imputations of harassment and the mishandling of her alleged rape are true.
Earlier, Reynolds vigorously denied she was trying to diminish what she knew in the days after Higgins was allegedly raped by Bruce Lehrmann while giving incorrect evidence at his criminal trial.
Lehrmann has maintained his innocence since his criminal trial was aborted due to juror misconduct.
Young grilled Reynolds about telling the ACT Supreme Court the first she learned that security guards had reported seeing Higgins in her parliamentary suite partially undressed and that there was an order that it be cleaned was via Higgins’ tell-all interviews.
Reynolds told the court she now knew that sworn testimony to be incorrect, with both matters documented in a report she received in the days after the security breach.
Brittany Higgins outside the Federal Court in Sydney last November, with partner David Sharaz (left) and lawyer Leon Zwier.Credit: James Brickwood
But she rejected any assertion she was trying to diminish what she knew because it would have proven she knew something untoward or criminal had occurred.
She also denied knowing the alleged sexual assault had occurred before holding a meeting with the then-24-year-old in her parliamentary suite on April 1, 2019, just metres from the couch on which the alleged rape occurred.
“You knew Ms Higgins had told [chief of staff] Fiona Brown she remembered Lehrmann being on top of her, you knew she was barely lucid. You knew she wanted to visit a doctor,” Young put to Reynolds.
“I cannot recall exact words, but I can recall she did say there was some form of physical contact, and that she couldn’t remember much and that she wanted to go to the doctor. We’re not counsellors,” Reynolds told the court.
“Ms Brown asked [Higgins] if anything she didn’t want to happen had happened, and she said no.”
As her employer, Reynolds rejected the assertion she shouldered sole responsibility for Higgins’ welfare.
Young has sought to obtain the confidential deeds of settlement in four of Reynolds’ defamation actions, including with the ACT government, publisher Harper Collins and two media companies.
Reynolds’ long-time partner Robert Reid is expected to take the stand in the five-week defamation trial on Monday before former prime minister Scott Morrison.
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