But the witness, whose identity is subject to a publication ban, said that she sent the emails as “bait” in an attempt to make the former CBC radio host explain his violent behaviour towards her.
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What’s more, he said, Callaghan is “more easy-going” than Marie Henein, the defence lawyer he will face in the courtroom. “You were retraumatized every single time”.
The witness was also asked about a pair of emails she sent to Ghomeshi a year after the alleged assaults.
A woman who alleges she was sexually assaulted by Jian Ghomeshi will be back on the witness stand today as the trial of the disgraced former broadcaster continues.
Instead, much of the process is simply getting the witness ready to deal with the stress of being in the spotlight and having someone challenge their recollections, she said.
It was the first time that Henein’s pugnacious style was on full display, after an opening day dominated by the first witness’s emotional testimony that Ghomeshi had suddenly attacked her on two occasions.
Ms. Henein then showed the court another e-mail – which the witness acknowledged was “flirtatious” – in which the witness said to Mr. Ghomeshi, “Hi, Jian, I’ve been watching you on Screw The Vote” – a one-time CBC special that aired in May, 2004.
Another woman, who is an author and a lawyer, writes an article for the Huffington Post involving her own allegations of an aggressive, non-consensual encounter with Ghomeshi.
“That was just to bait him”.
Adding to the hard nature of the case, Decoutere allegedly did not tell Ghomeshi to stop and it was not until after she started to make a distinct facial expression, that he then proceeded to stop. “That was the photo I deliberately chose so I could give it to him so he would maybe phone me”.
The two, she said, met at a CBC Christmas party and the first assault took place when they were inside of his vehicle after a taping of his show Play.
In the two years leading up to the trial, Ghomeshi, the former host of Q, has kept to himself, choosing not to comment on the allegations and only appearing before the courts to plead not guilty to the four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking.
The woman said the emails were the only way she could get Ghomeshi to contact her, so she could ask him about the alleged assault. “I felt it was all very cathartic”.
Witnesses in those cases are also more likely to have spoken publicly about their experience, he said.
Counsel for the accused, Marie Henein, which grows to that evidence is accessible, noted with irony that Ms. Decoutere and his lawyer had given “no fewer than 24 interviews to journalists”.
The witness said: “The nice outweighed …”
“This is not the Wild West”, said Ms. Henein.
Some of the alleged assaults date back as far as 2002.
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The statement came after her testimony and the challenge to her credibility and reliability during a closely watched trial that could have the potential to affect the choices of sexual assault victims on whether to engage in the criminal justice system. “I haven’t spent my days thinking about every detail of something I found so painful”.
