But Thursday, as they divvied up the closing arguments on behalf of their client, they were more than that.
Advertisement
Three complainants testified Ghomeshi slapped, punched and choked them, but his lawyer, Marie Henein, questioned their actions after the alleged assaults, including sending flirty emails. However all three women didn’t disclose to police the nature of their contact with Ghomeshi after the alleged incidents took place.
The Crown said, and the judge agreed, that the evidence could be used to rebut the defence assertion that DeCoutere recently fabricated the allegations against Ghomeshi to boost her fame.
“There was a shocking switch in his behavior and she was wondering what caused it. So she wrote him and sent him a picture using whatever commodity she thought would get him – her body”, he said. The woman explained she was embarrassed by the sexual encounter and didn’t initially think it was relevant.
Why was the trial heard by a judge only? Ghomeshi pleaded not guilty to four counts of sexual assault and one count of choking based on alleged incidents involving three women.
“I don’t think that just taking the criminal justice system as it’s designed for any kind of criminal offence and then laying that into the nature of sexual assault – I just don’t think it works”, she said.
In the case of the first complainant, Henein confronted the woman with friendly emails and a bikini photo she sent to Ghomeshi after the alleged assaults. Later she met him again, invited him back to her home and engaged in sexual activity but she didn’t tell police or the prosecutor about the invite or the sexual activity until this last Friday.
Robitaille, in charge of reviewing the litany of inconsistencies that had come from the complainants’ own mouths, reminded Ontario Court Judge Bill Horkins of their collective animus to Ghomeshi (as demonstrated in particular by some of the preposterous 5,000-plus messages between Lucy DeCoutere and the third complainant) and of the various ways they misled Toronto Police and why the judge should have “very grave concerns” about relying on their testimony. She claimed on the witness stand to have forgotten about the email and another flirtatious email she sent a year after.
In a hand-written love letter sent to Ghomeshi days after the alleged abuse, DeCoutere writes about the date that she was “sad we didn’t spend the night together” and ends the letter by saying “I love your hands”.
In court Thursday, she shook her head to herself several times while the defence spoke about her testimony.
The allegations against Ghomeshi prompted the Ontario government to launch an action plan against sexual violence and harassment, and both Butt and Witelson said the trial has turned a spotlight on the criminal justice system.
“This is evidence that is extensive”, Henein said.
What was extraordinary about this case, Henein said, was that “all three complainants withheld information from the police and from the Crown and most importantly, from the court in testimony”.
Advertisement
The trio’s collective “disregard for the obligation to tell the truth is meaningful”, Henein said.
