Brittany Higgins case: Cleaner makes bombshell claim about Linda Reynolds office

The court testimony of a Colombian-born cleaner sent to tidy up Linda Reynolds’ parliamentary office in the hours after Brittany Higgins alleges she was raped has poured cold water on the persistent rumour of an alleged ‘steam clean’ cover-up.

Carlos Ramos was asked to clean Senator Reynolds office on March 23, 2019, after Parliamentary Security Staff officers alerted a Department of Finance official that two staffers had entered the office and Ms Higgins had slept on the couch.

Ms Higgins didn’t make public allegations of an assault until much later and investigations by the former inspector-general of intelligence and security Vivienne Thom and the Federal Police found there was no reason to suspect one at that point.

Late night drinks in parliamentary offices, however, are not uncommon in Canberra and special cleans are sometimes ordered to ensure MPs do not arrive to the remains of a party.

When Mr Ramos arrived to complete the clean, expecting a two-hour or longer job, he found the room so tidy that he called his boss who then reached out to security staff to make sure they had the right room.

A court heard it was not uncommon for Minister’s offices to be cleaned if staffers had drinks the night before so they would not arrive to a mess (pictured, Senator Linda Reynolds)

‘This look in my opinion normal cleaning,’ Ramos, whose first language is Spanish, told the ACT Supreme Court he had said to his supervisor. 

Ramos testified on October 11 last year that he spent 30 minutes doing a routine clean of the already clean room, a fact which columnist Janet Albrechtsen noted in The Australian had been overlooked by the media.

His testimony was lost among the multitude of documents that finally became available when a suppression order was lifted.

The order had been put in place until Ms Higgins completed her cross-examination, which was fragmented by mental health breaks. 

Asked by prosecutor Shane Drumgold if he had cleaned the couch where Higgins alleges she was raped, Ramos said he wiped it with a leather cleaning product. 

‘You put a chemical on a cloth and you wiped it (the couch) over?’ Drumgold asked.

Ramos: ‘Yes, yes.’

In cross-examination, Ramos told defence barrister Kat­rina Musgrove that: ‘It was totally just routine clean.’

His testimony refutes the claim the couch in Ms Reynolds’ office had been thoroughly steam cleaned in the hours following the alleged sexual assault.

The Parliament House cleaner said that he wiped the couch over with leather cleaner and a cloth but it was not steam cleaned (pictured is Ms Reynolds’ then office in Parliament House)

The steam clean claim suggesting the scene might have been ‘interfered with’ appeared in articles that broke the story and has been repeated countless times. 

Ms Albrechtsen noted the claim appeared to stem from a diary note by Australian Federal Police deputy commissioner of national security Leanne Close, about a conversation she had with AFP assistant commissioner Lesa Gale.

The note said Gale told her that ‘staff in the office have had the lounge steam cleaned’.

The claim was repeated months later in an anonymous letter addressed to the late Senator Kimberling Kitching.

In his cross-examination, Mr Ramos was also asked whether he needed to clean the bathroom where Ms Higgins said she had vomited.

‘Not really … like the bathroom wasn’t used recently.’

He said there didn’t seem to be any towels used, the toilet was not dirty and and there were no odours. 

‘The toilet seat underneath didn’t need to be cleaned?’ Musgrove asked.

‘No,’ he replied.

Ms Higgins is seen on CCTV footage walking past Parliament House security on the night she alleges she was raped in Ms Reynolds’ parliamentary office 

The ACT’s director of public prosecutions Shane Drumgold, who handled the Higgins case, is on leave until August 30.

Anthony Williamson SC is acting in the role.

ACT chief minister Andrew Barr is awaiting a report due to be delivered this month following an independent inquiry into how the justice system handled Bruce Lehrmann’s criminal trial.

Mr Lehrmann was the staffer accused of raping Ms Higgins in Ms Reynolds’ office. He has consistently denied the allegations.

The independent inquiry has been headed by former Queensland Supreme Court judge Walter Sofronoff.

Prosecutors dropped the charge against Mr Lehrmann over concerns about the impact of a second trial on Ms Higgins’ mental health after the first trial was aborted due to juror misconduct.

Mr Lehrmann strenuously denies the allegations made against him by Ms Higgins.