Warning: Content in this article may be upsetting or triggering to some readers.
A woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by longtime Toronto councillor Michael Thompson took the stand in a Barrie courtroom Thursday, telling the court Thompson took advantage of her while at a Port Carling cottage over the Canada Day weekend in 2022.
The woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, is one of several young women who have testified in the trial that began in October in Bracebridge. Thompson, 65, is accused of sexual assault by two women during the cottage getaway that witnesses testified was supposed to be a networking get-together.
The woman, whose testimony initially began in February, said Thompson “wasn’t taking no for an answer” and “eventually she gave in.” She said Thompson forced oral sex on her while she was “black out” drunk, adding he had given her tequila and when she awoke he was on top of her.
She was adamant Thompson was not speaking during the encounter.
“I remember telling him no,” she said. “Multiple nos. I told him I didn’t want to get pregnant.”
The court had heard the young women were supplied alcohol and marijuana by Thompson and his friend.
The witness testified she heard from another woman that Thompson, while applying lotion on her back, placed his hands under the woman’s bikini top.
The defence’s cross-examination of the witness got heated several times, including when the woman was asked whether she flirted with Thompson that weekend.
Defence lawyer Leora Shemesh suggested to the witness while alone in the kitchen with Thompson she touched him sexually and put his hands in his shorts and kissed him and flirted with him. The woman disagreed.
The defence suggested the woman told Thompson she wanted to see him later. The witness said she never expressed an interest to be with Thompson and disagreed with the version of events suggested by the defence.
The defence suggested the woman voluntarily came to Thompson’s bedroom naked and started kissing and touching him. The woman said that suggestion was not true. “There was nothing consensual,” the witness testified.
The defence suggested the woman mentioned filing a lawsuit against Thompson, to which she denied threatening to sue him, adding she did not come forward to police for months.
The trial continues Tuesday in Barrie.
