In the lead-up to the trial, Henein said, the woman would “report in” to DeCoutere after any significant exchange with detectives or the Crown.
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“All of a sudden I felt his hands on my shoulders and his teeth…and his hands were around my neck and he was squeezing”.
“I did”, the woman said.
The woman hadn’t realized her words might be used against her; she told CBC’s Carol Off that she didn’t even think she could still press charges. But she added that she hadn’t remembered them when she spoke to police or to Crown prosecutors.
But DeCoutere said that doesn’t change the fact that Ghomeshi suddenly started choking and slapping her while they were kissing in his bedroom in the summer of 2003.
The magic moment came Monday, when Ghomeshi’s third accuser was being grilled about some of the 5,000 messages she exchanged in the relevant period from the fall of 2014 to the fall of 2015 with fellow Ghomeshi complainant Lucy DeCoutere.
DeCoutere, who chose not to have her identity protected by a publication ban, is one of three women who have testified that former CBC radio star Ghomeshi became physically violent during intimate encounters. Both returned to her home for “romantic” interactions.
The woman said she didn’t go to police at the time of the alleged assault because she wanted to put the incident behind her. She also said that she didn’t want to jeopardize the career of her brother, who was in the arts industry.
Up until last Friday, this was all she ever said about that night – and that since the alleged choking, she had always kept her distance from Ghomeshi.
She told the court that she left the party with Ghomeshi, but then got in an argument with him and got out of his auto.
Henein accused her of lying, but the witness insisted it was an “embarrassing” omission.
Already, Henein had caught her red-handed in what sure looks like collusion with DeCoutere – their messages are filled with talk of “our team”, and they shared a publicist and at least for a time the same civil litigator lawyer – and a growing list of lies or omissions. The statement was not disclosed to Henein until Sunday.
Henein said the woman had also indicated that she had been following coverage of the trial, contrary to a court order, and called the new developments “disturbing”. The 48-year-old former host of CBC Radio’s “Q” acknowledged in 2014 that he engaged in rough sex acts, but said it was consensual.
The trial first heard that the woman didn’t contact Ghomeshi after the alleged assaults, save for perhaps writing him an angry email, which she said she may or may not have sent.
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Before DeCoutere’s testimony, the trial heard from the first complainant in the case who alleged Ghomeshi suddenly yanked on her hair while they were kissing in his vehicle, and on another night, pulled her hair and punched her in the head while they were kissing in his living room.
