‘It’s pretty bad’: Texts show moment Brittany Higgins confided in ex after alleged sexual assault

Text messages sent in the days after Brittany Higgins alleges she was raped by her former colleague show the moment she disclosed the incident to an ex-boyfriend.

Screenshots of the conversation, tendered to the ACT Supreme Court, were discussed in court on Thursday.

Bruce Lehrmann has pleaded not guilty to a single charge of sexual intercourse without consent.

In the messages, sent three days after the alleged sexual assault in 2019, Ms Higgins told her ex boyfriend Ben Dillaway the evening “didn’t play out how I made out”.

“I don’t remember getting there at all, vaguely remember Bruce being there and then I woke up in the morning half dressed by myself in the Minister's office on Saturday morning,” she wrote.

“I’ve spoken with dad and he is flying down on Friday. Was pretty upset over the weekend so he’s headed here to just hang out.”

Ms Higgins told the court on Thursday her parents knew “something bad” had occurred but she had not disclosed the full details at the time of the texts.

“I half alluded to something to my dad. I hadn’t disclosed it yet to my mum in full. They knew something bad happened, that someone was fired,” she said.

The court heard Ms Higgins had told Mr Dillaway she was “barely lucid” during the incident and she did not “feel like it was consensual at all”.

“So he f**ked you? I hope you’re ok. This is pretty serious horrible stuff. You probably need to report this,” Mr Dillaway responded.

On Thursday, Ms Higgins told the court she was “trying to slowly wade my way into a conversation” she knew would be difficult.

“I hadn’t told anyone about the assault … I needed to start ventilating it to someone. He knew the Liberal Party, he knew the system. I wanted to start the conversation,” she said.

She said, at the time, she was “still blaming herself for what happened”.

In the texts, Ms Higgins raised concerns the incident would become public knowledge.

“I wouldn’t dare tell a sole (sic),” Mr Dillaway said.

Ms Higgins said she “wanted to go to police”.

“I didn’t want it to turn into a media frenzy,” the court heard.

Ms Higgins was also presented with the parliament sign-in sheet of the night of the incident.

“That’s not my handwriting,” she said.

The trial continues.