Latest news with #CrownAttorney
CBC
3 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Carter Hart's testimony challenged at sexual assault trial
Carter Hart, one of the five former world junior hockey players accused of sexual assault, had his previous testimony challenged by the Crown attorney during cross examination on Friday.
CBC
3 days ago
- Politics
- CBC
Crown grills ex-player Carter Hart on his memory at sexual assault trial
Former world juniors player Carter Hart was cross-examined by the Crown attorney on his specific memories of what happened in the London, Ont., hotel room on the night of the alleged sexual assaults in 2018.
CBC
4 days ago
- General
- CBC
Crown grills Toronto councillor over alleged sexual assault at Muskoka cottage
Social Sharing WARNING: This article contains graphic descriptions of an alleged sexual assault. During cross-examination in his sexual assault trial Thursday, Toronto councillor Michael Thompson was grilled by a Crown attorney who suggested he'd forced himself on a woman in 2022, despite his previous testimony the encounter was consensual. The former deputy mayor is facing two charges of sexual assault for alleged incidents involving two women at a Muskoka cottage over the Canada Day weekend in 2022. Their identities are protected by a court-ordered publication ban. One woman has alleged Thompson touched her inappropriately while applying sunscreen, which Thompson denied in court earlier this month, while the second woman has alleged he forced himself on her in the middle of the night. Thompson has pleaded not guilty to both charges in the judge-alone trial, which continued in Barrie Thursday. Thompson first took to the witness box earlier this month, where he testified that a sexual encounter had happened with the second woman, but she had initiated it and it was consensual, a claim he maintained Thursday. WATCH | Coun. Thompson takes stand for first time to testify in trial: Toronto city councillor Michael Thompson takes the stand in his sexual assault trial 23 days ago Duration 2:30 He said the complainant had spent much of that day touching him and flirting with him, and at one point suggested they get together when the other two women at the cottage that weekend — the other complainant and a witness in the trial — went to bed. Thompson said Thursday he went to bed early, but was woken by the second complainant around 3 a.m. He alleged she was fully naked and asked him to have a drink in the kitchen. He said he followed her out and sipped tequila with her before following her down to a basement room where she performed oral sex on him. Crown suggests things went differently On Thursday Crown attorney Mareike Newhouse pushed back against Thompson's testimony, putting the prosecution's theory of events to him directly. "I'm going to suggest to you that what actually happened in the early hours of the morning is entirely different than what you've described," Newhouse said, suggesting he was already awake, not awoken by the complainant. "I'm going to suggest that you actually went looking for the women in the middle of the night," Newhouse said. "No," Thompson replied. "I'm going to suggest that the woman you found was [the second complainant]," she said. "No," he responded. "I'm going to suggest you took her to the basement." "No." "By the time you got to her room you were all over her physically and she told you no." "No, that was never said." "I'm going to suggest it was said multiple times by her to you." "Absolutely not, that was never done." Newhouse completed the Crown's cross-examination of Thompson Thursday. The trial is set to resume with Thompson's re-examination by his lawyer on June 23. Woman's previous testimony contradicts Thompson Newhouse's suggestions aligned with what the court had previously heard from the complainant. Earlier this year, the woman testified that Thompson allegedly forced himself on her after a day of heavy drinking. The complainant said that Thompson woke her up in the middle of the night and took her to a downstairs bedroom. Once there, she said, he was "definitely trying to engage in something sexual," while standing close to her and touching her. The complainant said she told Thompson, "I don't want this." She said she laid down on a bed, still feeling the effects of alcohol from earlier in the day, at which point Thompson put his penis around her face and mouth and later ejaculated on her face and chest. She told the courtroom repeatedly she had not wanted sexual contact with Thompson, but felt she couldn't do anything. "I felt trapped," she said at the time. Thompson said Thursday that the woman put his penis in her mouth herself, and she appeared sober. Both complainants, and a third woman who was at the cottage that weekend and is a witness in the trial, have previously testified Thompson plied them with alcohol over the weekend, and the second complainant was very drunk when Thompson allegedly forced himself on her. The witness's identity is also protected by a publication ban.
CBC
4 days ago
- General
- CBC
Accused abuser's trial will reveal 'sexual violence on an unrelenting scale,' Crown tells court
Social Sharing WARNING: This story includes graphic descriptions of sexual violence. Evidence from 28 complainants who allege Michael Haaima preyed upon them — some when they were teen girls — will reveal a "predatory system of sexual violence," the Crown told court as his trial began Thursday in Kingston, Ont. Assistant Crown attorney Megan Williams told the Superior Court of Justice she intends to show the pattern of alleged abuse was driven by the accused's need for control and an "unrelenting interest in sexual activity with a child." Haaima, now 40, faces 98 charges for alleged incidents dating back between 2007 and 2022, when he was arrested. The indictment lists more than 30 counts of sexual assault, several of which are alleged to have involved choking or weapons including a belt, a paddle and a screwdriver. Haaima also faces multiple charges for allegedly accessing and making child pornography. "This is a case about sexual violence on an unrelenting scale," Williams said in her opening statement. "It is about Mr. Haaima's predatory collection of young women and teenaged girls to be used for his sexual domination, fuelled by his violent and pedophilic sexual urges." The defence did not making an opening statement as the trial began Thursday. Haaima pleaded not guilty 96 times Haaima, who appeared in court wearing a grey suit and glasses, could be seen shaking his head as the Crown lawyer read her statement. The list of charges was so long that Haaima's lawyer Natasha Calvinho asked that she and her client be allowed to sit while it was read out. It took more than 40 minutes, with two members of the court staff taking turns reading 10 counts at a time. Ninety-six times Haaima pleaded not guilty. He pleaded guilty only to the final two charges, for breaching a non-contact order after he was already in custody. The investigation began in January 2022. Prior to his arrest, Haaima worked in Kingston's tech sector. Williams, the Crown lawyer, said the allegations against him could be divided into two broad time frames. The first, spanning 2007 to 2010, involved seven women and allegedly saw Haaima "taking advantage of access" he had to them through selling marijuana. The other 21 complainants encountered the accused between 2016 and 2022, after being targeted through social media platforms including dating app Tindr, according to the Crown. The identities of all the victims are shielded by a standard publication ban. 5 months set aside for trial Williams told court Haaima's alleged pattern of abuse began with him presenting as a "nice guy," offering his alleged victims alcohol and marijuana before a sudden "escalation to sexual violence" including voyeurism and filming. Some of the women are expected to testify they were choked into unconsciousness, she told the court. They'll also testify Haaima forced complainants to call him "daddy" and act like a schoolgirl, a child or a baby. The Crown said Haaima would also expose alleged victims to child pornography during sexual encounters, sometimes grabbing them by the hair and forcing them to watch it. Williams alleged Haaima also forced one victim, who was then under the age of consent, to engage in sexual activity with other men while he watched, describing that as falling under the "broad umbrella of human trafficking." "Eventually, his purpose evolved to soliciting some of the young women to facilitate his access to a young child for a sexual purpose," she told court. The trial is proceeding before a judge alone and is expected to take roughly five months. Williams said she anticipates Crown witnesses could testify into October, adding time has also been set aside this November and January 2026 to accommodate the defence and closing submissions.
CTV News
5 days ago
- General
- CTV News
Crown calls man accused of driving 196 km/h while impaired ‘Morally bankrupt'
Jefferson Dance, 47, is pictured outside the courthouse in Barrie, Ont., on Wed., May 28, 2025. (CTV News / Mike Arsalides) Closing arguments were heard inside a Barrie, Ont. courtroom Wednesday in the trial of a Wasaga Beach man accused of driving nearly four times the legal limit at about 200 kilometres an hour prior to the deadly crash three years ago in Wasaga Beach. Jefferson Dance, 47, is on trial charged with dangerous and impaired driving causing the death of Jim Lynne, 62, whom the court heard was delivering pizzas at the time his Nissan Juke was crashed into from behind by a grey Tesla Model Y along Mosley Street just before midnight April 9, 2022. Jefferson Dance Jefferson Dance, 47, is on trial charged with dangerous and impaired driving causing death in the crash April 9, 2022, along Mosley Street in Wasaga Beach. Jim Lynne, 62, died of his injuries in the crash. (Court Exhibit) The Crown in delivering its closing arguments called Dance 'morally bankrupt' for getting behind the wheel with about four times the legal limit of alcohol in his system then driving his Tesla up to 196 km/h before crashing into the car driven by Lynne. The crash killed Lynne instantly, the court heard. Crown Attorney Indy Kandola told the court Dance turned Lynne's Nissan Juke 'into a soda can, crushing it.' The court was shown surveillance video inside a nearby bar where Dance and a friend shared drinks while watching a hockey game that night. They were in the bar for more than four hours. Tesla Jefferson Dance, 47, is accused of speeding and crashing his grey Model Y Tesla second prior to midnight April 9, 2022, when the car driven by Jim Lynne was hit from behind along Mosley Street. (Court Exhibit) 'He got in after drinking alcohol for hours and as soon as he got into his Tesla he started flying,' said the Crown. The court heard evidence from police, a vehicle believed to be Dance's Tesla was seen travelling 148km/h along Mosley Street seconds before the crash happened. The defence said the Crown could not prove the vehicle in question belonged to Dance. Related Articles: The court heard Dance, and his friend had gone out to dinner that night in Thornbury where they shared wo bottles of wine then went to the bar in Wasaga Beach about two kilometres from the crash site. The crash happened minutes after Dance and his friend were seen leaving the bar. 'He literally had the pedal to the metal,' said Kandola, 'Literally flooring it up until two seconds before the crash.' He said the vehicle driven by Dance hit the Nissan driven by Lynne from behind and sent it spinning before the Nissan landed on its roof. Lynn was travelling the speed limit, the Crown said, but looked stationary in comparison to the Tesla, which recorded the crash on several of its on-board cameras. There were no 'mechanical defects,' said the Crown. 'The speed was outrageous.' Jefferson Dance Jefferson Dance, 47, is on trial charged with dangerous and impaired driving causing death in the crash April 9, 2022, along Mosley Street in Wasaga Beach. Jim Lynne, 62, died of his injuries in the crash. (Court Exhibit) The defence for the first time in trial, Wednesday, all but conceded Dance was behind the wheel that night, however, his lawyer Robert Geurts told the court the case against Dance had several problems. 'This entire case has been misunderstood from the very beginning,' said the experienced defence lawyer. The defence called witness testimony in some instances absurd. Geurts alleged officers and witnesses 'accommodated' their evidence that was then 'tainted' because of pressures and a perceived rush to judgement. Geurts also took aim at the crash reconstructionist from the OPP, who was qualified as an expert witness in collision reconstruction. Geurts called the report findings wrong. The defence did not call any evidence in trial but suggested to the OPP crash reconstructionist there may have been a defect in the Tesla that caused it to speed up on its own. Data had been provided by Tesla to police, of the final five seconds prior to the crash, from the vehicle's Airbag Control Module. Tesla Jefferson Dance, 47, is on trial charged with dangerous and impaired driving causing death in the crash April 9, 2022, along Mosley Street in Wasaga Beach. Jim Lynne, 62, died of his injuries in the crash. (Court Exhibit) The defence alleged the vehicle should have decelerated without pressure applied to the pedal, but it accelerated instead. The defence said it did not dispute toxicology results based on blood drawn from Dance in hospital following the crash which showed Dance had between three and a half to four times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood. 'You cannot come to the conclusion he was the most blameworthy and put the pedal to the metal' as the Crown suggested, he said. Justice Mark Edwards is scheduled to deliver his judgement next Tuesday.
