Jian Ghomeshi sexual assault trial set to begin in Toronto court

The first alleged sexual assault against the young woman took place after attending her first CBC taping at the broadcaster’s Toronto headquarters – Ghomeshi offered to drive her to her auto in a nearby parking lot.

The first witness at the sexual assault trial of former Canadian Broadcast Corp. radio host Jian Ghomeshi is testifying that he was charming before he suddenly went into a rage, pulling her hair and punching her, 13 years ago.

Ghomeshi is being tried by a judge only and it’s expected to last several weeks.

The highly anticipated trial, which started on Monday at downtown Toronto’s Old City Hall, represents the accusations of three women they were violently sexually abused by Ghomeshi.

In her cross examination, Marie Henein, Ghomeshi’s lawyer, questioned why she didn’t go police right away and went over media interviews, police interviews and testimony and raised inconsistent details.

Amid a vigorous cross-examination that shredded elements of the first Jian Ghomeshi accuser’s story, defence counsel Marie Henein never probed one key allegation: That the former CBC host punched the woman three times.

Dalhousie University law professor Elaine Craig says it’s a “very common” strategy used by defence lawyers in sexual assault case is to point out conflicting statements made by the complainant to police, media or pre-trial hearing.

On Tuesday, the woman testified she went to great lengths to avoid contact with Ghomeshi after he allegedly attacked her but under cross-examination, she acknowledged she sent him flirtatious emails after the encounters.

“No. No. I refuse”, the woman said, adding that she didn’t remember the emails.

“You’re now inviting the man who traumatized you to get in touch with you?” she asked incredulously.

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. She insisted in court she had not watched Ghomeshi’s show, despite what her email said.

The lawyer also suggested the witness had told a friend at the time she was “smitten” with Ghomeshi, something that she denied. “I didn’t want to remember being punched in the head”. “Say hello to [a mutual friend] for me if you see him”.

“Something that I was trying to bury kept resurfacing and I had to relive the violence over and over”, she said.

If found guilty of sexual assault, the former leader is liable to a maximum penalty of 18 months imprisonment.

“I didn’t go to the police because I wanted to go home”, the witness said.

In a long message on Facebook, Jian Ghomeshi had admitted having had sex “brutal”, but claimed that these relationships were always consensual.

The witness was asked about whether Ghomeshi smashed her head against a window on their first date, something she said previously.

Henein, known for her take-no-prisoners style, elicited from the witness that police interviewed her only once for about an hour before charging him over the two alleged incidents.