Nikita Irvine told the Federal Court a colleague told her Brittany Higgins and Bruce Lehrmann ‘hooked up’ ont he night of the alleged rape.
Major Irvine was at The Dock hotel with Mr Lehrmann, Ms Higgins and other colleagues on March 22, 2019.
She did not go to the nightclub 88mph after the pub, but she got a text from another colleague, Lauren Gain, the following day that said ‘Brittany and Bruce hooked up’.
Two days later, she had dinner with Ms Gain who repeated the claim, ‘Brittany hooked up with Bruce’.
When Network Ten’s lawyer asked Major Irvine whether she had spoken with Mr Lehrmann at the pub that evening, to which she said: ‘I had bad vibes on Bruce.’
When asked why she didn’t like him, she said ‘It’s just women’s intuition, Dr Collins, I can’t explain’.
She also told the court Ms Higgins told her the following week that Mr Lehrmann had allegedly assaulted her.
She told the court: ‘I asked “Are you okay’ she said “no, have you heard what’s happened?”.’
Major Irvine told hte court Ms Higgins said: ‘Bruce, Austin, Lauren and I went to 88mph and Bruce and I were in an Uber to go home and he wanted to come back to Parliament House.
‘Hhe had some whiskey to show me or something.
‘When we came back to Parliament House, I fell asleep on the couch and I woke up and he was on top of me.’
Major Irvine asked: ‘Was it….?’
Ms Higgins nodded, with Ms Irvine taking it as confirming sexual assault.
Major Irvine also said she wasn’t sure if Ms Higgins identified the situation as a rape.
She also recalled Ms Higgins telling her in early April 2019 that she decided not to go ahead with a formal complaint because police told her it would be too difficult to get a conviction.
