Accused maintains he is the victim in closing arguments

» EDITOR'S NOTE: This story contains graphic elements that may be upsetting to some readers.

A man accused of sexually abusing his ex-partner and assaulting his daughter remained on the stand for most of the day on Friday, growing aggravated as the Crown repeatedly asked questions about his evidence in a lengthy cross-examination.

The 28-year-old man, who cannot be named due to a publication ban put in place to protect the victims, has pleaded not guilty in Brandon Court of Queen's Bench to multiple charges including assault, assault causing bodily harm, sexual assault using a weapon and voyeurism.

The charges stem from an approximate five-year relationship with his ex-girlfriend, who testified earlier this week the man sexually abused her numerous times while they were together despite her telling him to stop.

The man would hold her down and digitally penetrate her against her will, she testified, sometimes using objects such as a beer bottle, an electric toothbrush and an electric razor.

She also testified the man had choked her to the point of blacking out before having sex with her, and that he video recorded the couple having sex without her consent.

The man also threatened the couple's young daughter, the woman said, and physically abused her on a few occasions.

Taking the stand on Thursday, the man, who is representing himself, denied the accusations and told the court the woman had agreed to each and every sexual act the couple partook in and none of it was by force.

He also said that it was the woman who had actually raped him, taking advantage of him when he was drunk and forcing him to have children, which he never consented to.

Crown attorney Marnie Evans questioned the man on several inconsistencies between his testimony and the statement he gave police, including his claim he hadn't had contact with the woman since getting charged.

Evans went through pages of text message conversations between the two, dated after the day he was charged and while on court conditions not to have any contact with the woman.

Among them were messages from the man asking and sometimes begging her to drop the charges against him.

"You wanted her to know how these charges were affecting you?" Evans asked.

"Yeah, she ruined my life," the man said.

Evans also questioned the man about telling police he did not see bruises on the woman, but offering up different suggestions as to how she might have received them.

The man said he was tired of police asking the same questions over and over, and said the bruises might have happened different ways "just to shut them up."

The woman had a rug burn on her face at one point, Evans said, pointing out the man had different stories as to how she got the rug burn as well.

He told police the woman had put her head down while the two were having sex in their hallway and "slid across the carpet."

However on the stand, the man said she had slid off the bed while the two were having sex and scraped her face on the carpet.

"You didn't stop having sex with her after she slid off the bed," Evans asked.

"No, she didn't say to stop," the man said.

"You didn't stop to see if she was alright?" Evans retorted.

"If she was hurt at any time she could have stopped," the man said.

After being pressed numerous times on when he received consent from the woman, the man continued to assert he had to ask for "anything and everything," which he said he did often because when it came to their sexual relationship she would "just lay there and do nothing."

"I'm going to suggest to you that she laid there because she had asked you to stop and you didn't," Evans said.

"No. She could have got up, she could have rolled over," the man said. "She didn't like anything we did after the fact ... when I asked her she did give consent."

When asked about threatening or assaulting his daughter, the man said he remembered yelling at his daughter but didn't remember what he said to her.

He admitted that if she was touching something she shouldn't have, he would slap her hand, and if she was swearing he would slap her mouth.

"How I discipline my child is my right ... I was the only one who ever disciplined them," the man said.

"Would you agree with me it would take a considerable amount of force to leave a mark on the body?" Evans asked.

"I don't agree with anything that you say," the man said.

The man also called a friend and former sexual partner to the stand, who said he was not the violent type.

"(He) is a calm, gentle young man ... he never forced me into anything," the woman said. "He's not what everyone has been saying about him."

In her closing arguments, Evans said the victim's testimony was forthright, straightforward and believable.

"She was subjected to an extensive and thorough cross-examination and did not waiver on what she experienced," Evans said.

The man was inconsistent in his evidence, Evans said, and at times his evidence was self-serving.

He was also vague, combative and at times openly hostile, Evans added.

Parts of the woman's evidence was also corroborated by friends and social workers who testified, Evans said, and at times even the man himself.

For example, the man made multiple references to the woman "just lying there," Evans said. The woman herself said she would just lie there because he refused to listen to her.

"We submit that he knew that she didn't want to have sex with toothbrushes, razors, beer bottles, causing rug burn, marks on her arms, marks on her neck, choking, tying her up -- but he just didn't stop," Evans said. "We submit that she never consented to these activities, not even once."

Evans noted the man admitted to hitting his daughter in his testimony and argued it was more than the average parental discipline.

"This was excessive force. This was not reasonable discipline," Evans said. "Winding up and smacking your two-year-old daughter for saying a swear word in your home is not reasonable."

In his closing arguments, the man said once again the woman had given consent and had full control over everything they did.

The inconsistencies in his statements and inability to remember the date and time of certain meetings or incidents was due to the "mental and physical anguish" he was dealing with from "being a rape victim."

"With the hell I had to live, I'm trying to forget what I had to go through with her," the man said.

He maintained he did not remember threatening his daughter, and that any time he laid a hand on her it was strictly disciplinary.

"No one has actually seen these activities take place, it's all he said, she said," the man said. "There's not much I can do for that, I can try and defend myself but it's still he said, she said."

Justice Scott Abel reserved his decision and is expected to set a decision date in December.

» edebooy@brandonsun.com

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