Michael Thompson sex assault decision won't come until September
After beginning in Bracebridge, Ont., last fall, the sex assault trial of Coun. Michaael Thompson shifted to another courthouse on Monday, and while it's nearing its end, the conclusion is still months away and will happen in yet another municipality.
The Scarborough Centre city councillor was charged with two counts of sexual assault in 2022, following accusations from two woman after a Muskoka cottage weekend. Thompson has maintained his innocence and denied several of the allegations testifying in his own defence.
The trial has been drawn out over several months over scheduling issues faced by the judge, the Crown, and the defence. After shifting to Barrie in the spring, it continued on Monday in Bradford where closing submissions were heard.
Thompson's lawyer, Leora Shemesh, accused all three witnesses who testified on behalf of the Crown as lacking in credibility. They were accused of crafting a fraudulent tale and their attempts to besmirch her client's reputation were nothing more than a witch hunt, Shemesh said.
Story continues below advertisement
All three of the women were guests of Thompson's and are protected by a publication ban preventing their identity. Two of the women are complainants in the trial, one alleging Thompson fondled her breasts and buttocks under her bathing suit while applying sunscreen. Another woman told the court Thompson forced oral sex on her and ejaculated on her.
Get breaking National news
For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
Thompson has denied both of these accounts and said he only applied sunscreen to one of the complainants when he was asked to, while denying the allegation of improper touching. The councillor also said he engaged in a consensual sex act with the other woman, offering a counter-narrative that she had woken him up and performed oral sex on him.
On Monday, Shemesh said the witness alleging her client had forced himself on her was not credible, urging Judge Philop Brissette to disregard her evidence. Shemesh said while there were different narratives offered, she said Crown Attorney Marieke Newhouse failed to meet the bar of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Newhouse countered during her own closing arguments that it was Thompson who was presenting a false narrative about the events of the long weekend. The Crown argued that the councillor had been plying the women with alcohol and marijuana throughout the weekend, accusing Thompson of lying when he testified that none of the guests were intoxicated throughout the weekend.
The Crown also accused Thompson of repeatedly offering unsolicited stories of being charitable, not in an attempt to clear his name, but as a performative attempt to appear as a benevolent civic leader for an audience outside the courtroom. Newhouse also said Thompson's assertion that the sex acts were consensual were fictitious and that he forced himself on one of the complainants when she had repeatedly said 'no.'
Story continues below advertisement
At the end of the day Justice Brissette told both lawyers that he is considering several verdicts to ongoing trials and would not be able to render a decision until September. At that news, Thompson could audibly be heard sighing heavily, before both lawyers agreed to hear a decision on Sept. 16 in Midland.
Outside the courthouse, the councillor ignored reporters' questions, but his lawyer Shemesh said she is content with how the trial had progressed.
'I think it went how it should,' Shemesh said 'I'm very happy with how things have gone and now it's in the judge's hands.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Ottawa Citizen
2 hours ago
- Ottawa Citizen
Lam trial hears "abusive" mother spent three days in nursing home
Worried about their mother's increasingly abusive behaviour, the Lam family moved her out of the Bowmount Street townhouse she shared with her two adult daughters and into a nursing home. Article content But 88-year-old Kieu Lam lasted only three days in the nursing home before her son, Minh Huynh, brought her back to Bowmount Street. Article content Article content Testifying through a Cantonese interpreter Tuesday at the first-degree murder trial of his two sisters, Minh told court he did not want his mother to die unhappy in a nursing home, where she had difficulty communicating. Kieu spoke only Cantonese. Huynh told court he loved his mother despite her history of abuse, and sometimes, violence. Article content Article content 'She is my mother,' he told court. Article content Article content Minh said he thought his mother's behaviour would change after living in the nursing home, but that didn't happen. He told court her behaviour returned to normal after a few days, then became worse. Article content Sisters Chau Kanh Lam, 59, and Hue Ai Lam, 62, have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the death of their mother. Court has heard their mother was killed in her bed just after midnight on Oct. 31, 2022 — just months after she left the nursing home. Article content The Crown contends the Vietnamese-born sisters struck their defenceless mother in the head with a hammer as she was sleeping, then strangled her to death. Article content The jury has heard Hue told police she struck her mother with a hammer and then gave the weapon to her sister. Hue said they had planned the attack for days because they could no longer live with their mother's verbal and physical abuse. Article content Article content 'Everything was collecting to the point where it broke the dam,' Hue told police interrogators through an interpreter. Article content Article content Under cross examination Tuesday from defence lawyer Paolo Giancaterino, Minh told court he lived in the Bowmount Street house with his mother and sisters for nine years, until 2001. Minh said he saw his mother control every aspect of his sisters' lives, and nag, scold and hit them. Article content Minh said he did not escape his mother's approbation. Article content 'Sometimes, when there's anything she doesn't like, she can be nagging and nagging the whole day,' Minh told court. Article content She would often insult them, he said, and say they weren't listening or were not smart. She complained about her food and the fact her daughters were unmarried, Minh said.
Global News
2 hours ago
- Global News
Maine governor wants N.B. tourists back, but premier says major ‘change' needed
Maine Gov. Janet Mills is travelling in the Maritimes and has convened with New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt just a week after the pair met up in Boston. For Mills, cross-border co-operation is top of mind as the two sides navigate political tensions between Canada and the United States. 'Canada is Maine's closest and most important trading partner,' Mills told a crowd during an event hosted by the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday. 'We import a great deal from New Brunswick. We have a huge and longstanding trade relationship. I don't see that breaking apart.' Mills says the words of U.S. President Donald Trump are not those of the American people, and that many of them were 'appalled' when the president called for Canada to become the '51st state.' Story continues below advertisement She says she wants to strengthen Maine's relationship with Canada, especially when it comes to tourism and business. 'I can understand the heartfelt angst that Canadians must have felt and must continue to feel,' she said. 'But I will say it is your neighbours across the border, the small businesses whose families come from New Brunswick, whose families come from Quebec, those small businesses are the ones who are being hurt right now.' Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Numbers released by the U.S. federal border crossing on Friday showed 85,000 fewer Canadians entered Maine in May than in the same month a year ago, a drop of about 27 per cent. However, Holt offered a different perspective, saying that Canada-U.S. relations have helped the province's tourism industry. 1:48 Traffic at New Brunswick-Maine border down 38 per cent Concerns about crossing the border are causing Canadians to put American vacations on pause. Story continues below advertisement 'I think New Brunswickers are happy to welcome Americans right now, but things will have to change significantly in the U.S. for us to feel good about choosing to go spend our money there right now,' Holt said. 'I really appreciate how many people from Maine have come to New Brunswick to choose to show their support for Canada at a time when their country has been a menace to ours.' Morgan Peters, the chamber's CEO, was one of the signatories of an open letter from the chambers in both countries that encouraged both leaders to work towards healthy trade relationships. Peters says Tuesday's event was a positive step forward. 'Continued collaboration, continued communication is really the only way to navigate forward through this economic certainty,' he said. While Mills indicated she was optimistic that the rift between the two countries would heal, Holt says it won't happen right away. 'I think our prime minister (Mark Carney) said it well when he said the relationship has fundamentally changed,' Holt said. 'And you don't bounce back from that overnight.' Mills is on a three-day visit to the Maritimes and will be meeting with Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston as well. Story continues below advertisement — With a file from The Canadian Press
Global News
2 hours ago
- Global News
Diddy's lawyers request acquittal on all counts after prosecution rests case
The prosecution rested Tuesday at Sean 'Diddy' Combs ' sex trafficking trial, capping a more than six-week-long presentation of evidence against the hip-hop maven that confronted him with former employees and two former girlfriends who expressed regret at his treatment of them over the past two decades. After the prosecution rested, Combs' lawyers asked U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian to halt the trial immediately and throw out the charges, arguing the charges weren't proven. The government rested after defence lawyer Teny Geragos finished questioning the prosecution's final witness: Joseph Cerciello, a Homeland Security Investigations agent. Prosecutors have cited the 'freakoffs' as proof of the sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges that resulted in Combs' arrest last September. Defence lawyers, though, say they were consensual sexual encounters consistent with the swingers lifestyle. Story continues below advertisement Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty and has remained incarcerated without bail in a federal lockup in Brooklyn after multiple judges concluded last fall that he was a danger to the community. The government's case consisted of 34 witnesses, including former employees of Combs' Bad Boy Entertainment companies, but the bulk of its proof has come from the testimony of two former girlfriends: Casandra 'Cassie' Ventura and a model and internet personality known to jurors only by the pseudonym 'Jane.' Ventura, 38, testified for four days during the trial's first week, saying she felt pressured to engage in hundreds of 'freak offs' because the encounters would enable her to be intimate with Combs after performing sexually with male sex workers while he watched them slather one another with baby oil and sometimes filmed the encounters. Story continues below advertisement Jane testified for six days about the sexual performances she labeled 'hotel nights,' saying that she was putting them into perspective after beginning therapy three months ago. She said she felt coerced into engaging in them as recently as last August, but did so because she loved and still loves Combs. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Ventura was in a relationship with Combs from 2007 to 2018, while Jane was frequently with him from 2021 until his arrest, which cancelled her plan to meet him at the New York hotel where he was taken into custody. The Associated Press doesn't generally identify people who say they are victims of sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, as Ventura has done. After prosecutors rested Tuesday, the jury was sent to lunch. When they return, a defence presentation was expected to be completed by the end of the day without any witnesses. Throughout the trial, defence lawyers have made their case for exoneration through their questioning of witnesses, including several who testified reluctantly or only after they were granted immunity from any crimes they may have committed. Combs has been active in his defence, writing notes to his lawyers and sometimes helping them decide when to stop questioning a witness. He was admonished once by the judge for nodding enthusiastically toward jurors during a successful stretch of cross-examination by one of his lawyers. Prosecutors complained that his gestures were a form of testifying without being subject to cross-examination. The judge warned that he could be excluded from his trial if it happened again. Story continues below advertisement In the past week, prosecutors and defence lawyers have shown jurors over 40 minutes of recordings Combs made of the 'freak offs' or 'hotel nights.' Several jurors occasionally seemed squeamish as they viewed and listened to audio of the encounters, but most did not seem to react. In her opening statement, Geragos had called the videos 'powerful evidence that the sexual conduct in this case was consensual and not based on coercion.' Closing arguments were tentatively scheduled for Thursday.
