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A forensics expert has told a court she did not find semen on the cocktail dress Brittany Higgins was wearing before she was allegedly raped by an ex-colleague.
The former political staffer was wearing a white Kookai pencil dress on the night she claims Bruce Lehrmann sexually assaulted her inside Parliament House in Canberra.
Forensic biologist Jennifer Stone on Wednesday told the ACT Supreme Court she found no semen on the dress but said the tests – which came two years after the alleged rape – were ‘inconclusive, in a way’ because it had been washed.
The court later heard Ms Higgins told police Lehrmann ‘got quite handsy’ at a bar before the alleged assault early on March 23, 2019, after a drunken night out.
Lehrmann, 26, has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent.
Ms Higgins was unavailable to finish her cross-examination until Friday this week, forcing prosecutor Shane Drumgold SC to call a range of other witnesses.
The details of their evidence can only now be revealed due to a court order banning publication until the former political staffer had finished being cross-examined.
The court has heard Brittany Higgins (pictured) centre stored the dress under her bed before she washed it in what she described as a symbolic act
Forensics expert Jennifer Stone said the tests ‘are inconclusive, in a way’ when asked if it was possible that semen was on the dress before it was washed by Ms Higgins (pictured)
On Wednesday, Ms Stone – a senior forensic biologist who works for the Australian Federal Police – told the court she was given Ms Higgins’ dress on February 6, 2021, and asked to test for semen.
‘I was told there was a dress that had been washed and it had been quite a delay since the time of the alleged incident – [it had been] washed once and put away,’ she said.
The court had previously heard Ms Higgins stored the dress under her bed before she washed it sometime before May 2019 in what she described as a symbolic act.
Ms Stone told the court she ‘visually examined’ the dress for any areas of interest – finding a brown stain and having it tested for blood, but the results were negative.
She told the court she then conducted screening tests for semen with a blue light and orange goggles – similar to ‘that you might see in some crime shows’ – across the entire dress looking for areas that needed further examination.
Federal police officer Katie Thelning told the court Ms Higgins said the man she claims raped her, Bruce Lehrmann (pictured right), had ‘got quite handsy’ with at a bar that night
Lehrmann, 26, (pictured arriving at the Supreme Court in the ACT on Thursday) has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual intercourse without consent
Ms Stone said there were a ‘couple’ of areas that required further testing but produced negative results for semen.
‘I then just screened the entire inside dress, the skirt area of the dress, just to see, just to be thorough,’ she told the court.
‘[The screening] gave a negative result.’
When prosecutor Skye Jerome asked whether it was possible semen was on the dress before it was washed, Ms Stone said the tests she performed ‘are inconclusive, in a way’.
‘It’s possible that semen was there and it’s been washed away,’ she told the court.
‘In this case, I’ve conducted the screening tests for semen and I was not able to detect any semen on the item.’
Defence lawyer Steven Whybrow asked Ms Stone under cross-examination whether it was possible to find semen on articles of clothing that have been washed.
‘I know that it’s possible to obtain a semen stain from an item that has been washed,’ she explained.
Ms Stone added that she had personally never found a positive sample on a washed item of clothing.
Later on Wednesday, the court heard from federal agents Rebecca Cleaves and Katie Thelning, who work in Parliament House and were the first police officers to speak with Ms Higgins about the alleged assault.
Defence lawyers Katrina Musgrove and Steven Whybrow (both pictured) are representing Lehrmann in the the ACT Supreme Court trial
Ms Cleaves recalled Ms Higgins saying during the meeting on April 1, 2019, that she fell over twice on the night she claims she was raped and got in an Uber with a colleague and gave him her address.
But they were travelling via Parliament House, ‘which caused her some surprise’, Ms Cleaves told the court.
When they arrived at Parliament House, Ms Cleaves told the court Ms Higgins recalled ‘her colleague, who was Bruce, saying to her to play along’.
Ms Cleaves also told the court Ms Higgins said she woke up in parliament and she ‘could smell sex, so that was when she vomited’.
Ms Thelning said she took detailed notes while Ms Higgins told her story during the meeting and read them to the court.
‘Dancing, I then fell over. I felt embarrassed and then I sat down,’ the federal police officer read from her notes.
‘Bruce was sitting with me and got quite handsy. I didn’t really mind. I felt like I got super inebriated. I lost it on the stairs again.’
Ms Thelning told the court Ms Higgins recalled getting in a taxi with Lehrmann and gave him her address, and then she remembered being at Parliament House.
She continued reading Ms Higgins’ statement from her notes: ‘I don’t remember getting up to the suite. I remember being on the minister’s couch. Remember him being on top of me. Bruce saying something about finishing.’
‘I said something like, “No, don’t”. He left. I just stayed there. When I woke up, it was morning. I remember thinking it’s almost eight o’clock. I was thinking why am I here? Are people about to get in? I felt grossed out as I could smell what had happened on me.’
Ms Thelning told the court Ms Higgins decided to ‘put what happened away so it wouldn’t be a narrative to my life story’.
Ms Higgins also told federal police she went to a medical centre for tests, but the results had been yet to come back.
She notes Ms Higgins was crying, and apologised for being upset.
The trial continues.
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