Crown prosecutors are expected to call a new witness to testify, though they have not said who it will be. During a karaoke session, Ghomeshi walked on stage while DeCoutere was singing, grabbed her microphone and made it a duet.
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DeCoutere testified she didn’t leave Ghomeshi’s house right away because she didn’t want to be rude, didn’t want to anger Ghomeshi and “wanted to placate the situation”.
“With Ghomeshi, we’re seeing, as we’ve seen since the first allegations came forward, the crime is putting not only a focus on sexual assault but how the courts are treating sexual assault”, Kingston explained. She testified she’d never been hit in the face before.
The lawyer pressed DeCoutere on why she chose to cuddle and kiss Ghomeshi that night, and attend several events with him over the following week.
The actor, who is also a Royal Canadian Air Force captain, said the slaps were “hard enough that it got my attention”.
DeCoutere said she first met Ghomeshi at a conference in Alberta in the summer of 2003, where they had friendly and slightly flirtatious conversations that ended with Ghomeshi giving her his business card.
DeCoutere said she didn’t immediately report the alleged incident to police because she didn’t initially think what had happened before was an assault.
The defence lawyer referred to the emails exchanged between the duo.
“I always thought that assault meant that you were beaten to pieces and I didn’t think this qualified”, she added later.
Ghomeshi, the former host of the popular culture show “Q”, has pleaded not guilty to four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcome resistance by choking.
She testified that at an earlier encounter at an awards show, Ghomeshi “at a certain point … put his hand on my throat to remind me that he had choked me and I was totally shocked”.
However, Henein presented the court with two emails that were sent by the woman to Ghomeshi at least one year after the alleged assault took place.
The Crown attorney Michael Callaghan in particular argued that the publication of this photo may discourage other victims to denounce their alleged abuser and testify.
The gruelling cross-examination of a woman allegedly assaulted by Jian Ghomeshi drew cringes of discomfort this week as her credibility was battered by the former broadcaster’s lawyer, but advocates for survivors of sexual violence say the intense courtroom proceedings are typical of such cases.
Prior to DeCoutere’s testimony, the judge ruled against granting the media access to a photo of the first complainant, which was entered as evidence.
Henein suggested Tuesday the idea that the complainant would send a bikini photo to an alleged attacker who had “traumatized” her was an “implausible explanation”.
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The trial has heard the alleged details behind the first two counts of sexual assault. In the second incident in his home, she testified, he once again abruptly pulled her hair while they were kissing and punched her in the head. The choking charge against him, however, carries a potential life sentence.
