WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it.
A woman accusing Toronto city councillor Michael Thompson of sexual assault said Thompson touched her inappropriately but denied telling another woman that he digitally penetrated her, contradicting a statement the defence said that witness made to police.
Thompson’s trial resumed in the Bracebridge, Ont., courthouse Wednesday for the first time since October. The active Scarborough councillor and former deputy mayor stands accused of two counts of sexual assault for alleged incidents between him and two separate women at a Muskoka cottage in 2022.
On Wednesday, Thompson’s defence lawyer Leora Shemesh cross-examined one of the two complainants, who has alleged Thompson touched her inappropriately under her bathing suit while applying sunscreen to her.
Earlier in the trial, while cross-examining a young woman who was also at the cottage and is a witness in the case, the defence said that woman reported to police that the complainant said she was digitally penetrated by Thompson during the incident. The names of the complainants and the Crown’s first witness, who took the stand last week, are protected under a publication ban.
On Wednesday, Shemesh asked the complainant if she ever told the witness that.
“Absolutely not,” she replied.
Crown prosecutor Mareike Newhouse later asked the witness to clarify what she told the witness.
“I know we talked about what had happened in general terms,” the complainant said. “But she was present while it was happening so I’m not sure why I would have gone into detail.”
The complainant did not clarify if Thompson in fact digitally penetrated her. When examined by the crown in October, she alleged Thompson touched her buttocks and breasts under her bathing suit after applying sunscreen to her back.
‘I just wanted it to be over,’ complainant testifies
In October, the complainant testified that Thompson asked to put the sunscreen on her and she agreed to avoid making a scene, though she felt uncomfortable.
She said at the time that Thompson asked if he could touch her under her bathing suit after already putting his hands under her clothing. She testified she felt uncomfortable, but was “very intoxicated” and felt she couldn’t say no.
On Wednesday, the defence said the complainant never indicated she was not content with what was happening.
WARNING: This video may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone affected by it. The sexual assault trial of Scarborough councillor Michael Thompson began in cottage country on Monday. CBC’s Lane Harrison has the details.
“It was an uncomfortable situation,” the complainant said Wednesday. “I didn’t know how to indicate that. I just wanted it to be over. So I think I sort of went to a place of, ‘Just let it happen.'”
In addition to the complainant who testified Wednesday, Thompson is facing another sexual assault allegation from a woman who the Crown has said will testify the councillor forced himself on her in the middle of the night. That complainant was expected in court Wednesday but could not attend due to illness.
The two complainants are friends, with the first complainant inviting the second to what she believed would be a networking weekend at the cottage.
Defence calls complainant’s bathing suit ‘cheeky’
Shemesh spent much of the day going over details of the alleged assault on the dock.
Shemesh asked about the complainant’s bathing suit, calling the bottoms “cheeky” to which she replied, “Sure.”
“I’m going to suggest to you that he applies [lotion] to the side of your buttocks which had been exposed,” Shemesh said.
“No,” the complainant replied. “He went underneath my bathing suit.”
Shemesh also asked if the bathing suit top was tied or untied in the back while the complainant sunbathed on the dock.
The complainant said in her recollection it was tied.
“When you say in my recollection, you’re going back and using traditionally how you sunbathe? Or what is it about this particular day, in which you’re six or seven drinks in, that you can recall specifically?” Shemesh asked.
The complainant said she usually would not untie her bathing suit to tan.
Questions were also raised by the defence about the positioning of the complainant and Thompson when the lotion was being applied. Shemesh asked if Thompson was standing over top of her or sitting in closer proximity but the complainant could not remember exactly.
Shemesh pointed out that police never asked about positioning when taking her statement, which the complainant confirmed.
The trial continues in February.