A jury in the trial for the man accused of raping Brittany Higgins has been unable to reach a verdict ahead of the weekend.
Bruce Lehrmann is charged with sexual intercourse without consent and is being tried in the ACT Supreme Court. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Ms Higgins alleges Lehrmann raped her when they returned to Parliament House in Canberra after a night out drinking with colleagues. He denies any sexual interaction happened.
After 13 hours of deliberation, the jury had not yet reached a verdict on Friday afternoon.
Before dismissing them for the weekend, Chief Justice Lucy McCallum reminded the jurors not to read any media reports or discuss the case with anyone.
“Give yourself a social media-free holiday. You might enjoy it more than you anticipate,” she said.
Earlier in the week she said the jury must give a true verdict according to the evidence presented in court.
Justice McCallum said they must decide which evidence from the prosecution and defence they would accept and reject.
However, she reminded them Lehrmann was presumed innocent and it was up to the prosecution to prove his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
In closing arguments, prosecutor Shane Drumgold backed Ms Higgins’ credibility, telling the jury she had been an honest and reliable witness.
Mr Drumgold said after the alleged assault in 2019, Ms Higgins was faced with a fork in the road and did not pursue a police complaint because she feared losing her job.
“The political force, the political current, the political turmoil was around her. She had very good reason to be fearful,” he said.
But defence lawyer Steven Whybrow said it was possible Ms Higgins fabricated the assault allegation to keep her job.
He suggested Ms Higgins reconstructed events at Parliament House that night to the point that she now genuinely believes they happened.
Mr Whybrow said Ms Higgins may have thought her employment was on the line and a closer look at her evidence made the prosecution’s case against his client “untenable”.
“Is there a reasonable possibility this complaint is being made because her ‘dream job’ is, from her perspective, in jeopardy?” Mr Whybrow said.
The jury, made up of eight women and four men, will reconvene on Monday to continue deliberations until they can reach a unanimous verdict.
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