A senior detective has accused the ACT Victims of Crime Commissioner of using Brittany Higgins to pursue her own #MeToo movement agenda.
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Detective Superintendent Scott Moller has taken aim at Victims of Crime Commissioner Heidi Yates in a statement to an inquiry into the case of Bruce Lehrmann, saying he was "mad" at her "inappropriate" actions.
Mr Lehrmann stood trial in the ACT Supreme Court last year, having denied allegations he raped Ms Higgins at Parliament House when the pair were Liberal Party staffers.
The charge levelled at Mr Lehrmann was abandoned after the jury was discharged without reaching a verdict.
The actions of police, Ms Yates and ACT Director of Public Prosecutions Shane Drumgold SC are now under the microscope at an independent inquiry.
Detective Superintendent Moller's statement describes how, during the police investigation into Ms Higgins' allegations, Ms Yates played the role of "support person" for the alleged victim.
"The involvement of [Ms Yates] in the investigation was in my opinion inappropriate," the detective said.
"Her position intimidated my staff and made investigators question their strategies.
"I personally found her involvement frustrating and cumbersome, and she made it difficult for [ACT Policing] to contact the [alleged] victim."
Detective Superintendent Moller went on to say he felt Ms Yates was "attempting to place a barrier between investigators and the alleged victim".
The senior police officer, who has been criticised by Mr Drumgold for describing Ms Higgins as "evasive, uncooperative and manipulative" in a report, also wrote about being "suspicious" of the alleged victim.
He described feeling this way because, in his view, Ms Higgins seemed "more preoccupied with media appearances than progressing the investigation".
Detective Superintendent Moller said Ms Higgins had also been "untruthful" about seeking medical treatment, and had deleted material from her phone before providing it to investigators.
He wrote that he recalled telling Ms Yates, during one conversation, that Ms Higgins "has to stop doing media" because of the potential for her appearances to impact on the case.
"[Ms Yates] said to me, 'She can't, Scott. She is the face of the movement now'," Detective Superintendent Moller said.
"Initially, I did not think a lot about that comment but on reflection and after witnessing the media that transpired, I understood what [Ms Yates] was referring to.
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"This upset me and I remember being mad that [Ms Yates] was using the investigation as a voice for reform before the trial had even been conducted."
He went on to say Ms Yates' role as a support person for Ms Higgins had "complicated the investigation".
"I felt at times [Ms Yates] was advocating through Ms Higgins for her own agenda and was more interested in Ms Higgins pushing the '#metoo' movement rather than being committed to the upcoming trial," Detective Superintendent Moller wrote.
"I felt one of the more upsetting aspects of her involvement was her lack of involvement in other sexual assault matters that were progressing through the courts at the same time."
Ms Yates is expected to give evidence later in the inquiry, and her statement has not yet been released.
