Brittany Higgins has hit back at what she describes as the "deeply insulting" suggestion she did not follow through on plans to see a doctor after her alleged rape because the incident never happened.
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"Nothing you are saying right now is true whatsoever," the former Liberal Party staffer told alleged rapist Bruce Lehrmann's barrister while being cross-examined in the ACT Supreme Court on Friday.
Ms Higgins has been giving evidence since Wednesday in the trial of Lehrmann, who rejects allegations he raped her at Parliament House when they worked for Senator Linda Reynolds in March 2019.
Lehrmann, who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of engaging in sexual intercourse without consent, denies having sex with Ms Higgins in any form.
On Friday, defence counsel Steven Whybrow quizzed Ms Higgins about her having asked Senator Reynolds' chief of staff, Fiona Brown, for a day off to go to a doctor days after the alleged rape.
Ms Higgins did not end up seeing a doctor, and Mr Whybrow suggested she had "played a deception" on Ms Brown.
"The reason you didn't go to a doctor was because you didn't have sex with anyone on [the night in question], consensual or otherwise," Mr Whybrow suggested to Ms Higgins.
Ms Higgins said she "completely rejected" everything the defence barrister was saying.
MORE COVERAGE OF THE TRIAL:
"You are so incorrect," she told him.
"I don't know if you've ever gone through a trauma before, but confronting it head-on with professionals is a very hard thing to do."
Ms Higgins added that she had every intention of seeing a general practitioner when she made the request of Ms Brown, saying she did not follow through because she was "bed-bound" and depressed.
She had earlier described "collapsing" every day after work as a result of the effort it took to return to the office where she had allegedly been raped by Lehrmann.
"I wasn't coping with the fact I had been raped in my workplace," Ms Higgins told Mr Whybrow.
"I don't know what you want from me."
Ms Higgins also rejected Mr Whybrow's suggestion that she misled former boyfriend Ben Dillaway about having seen a doctor in order to "bolster" her rape allegation.
The trial continues.
MORE TRIAL COVERAGE:
- Meeting with minister at site of alleged rape felt like 'scare tactic': Higgins
- 'Like this weird anchor': Higgins kept dress under bed while weighing up action
- Higgins 'rebuffed kiss' from accused rapist before allegedly being 'trapped'
- Public 'sold a pup' with 'unstoppable snowball' story of alleged Higgins rape
