Complainant testifies during sexual assault trial of three Prince George men
The complainant in a sexual assault trial broke down and sobbed during her testimony in B.C. Supreme Court and at least twice was excused from the courtroom so she could regain her composure.
Tears flowed and the witness often dabbed at her eyes with a tissue as she spoke about the events she said occurred at an alleged biker club house in Prince George on March 24, 2011.
Under direct examination by Crown counsel Cassandra Malfair, the witness took the stand Tuesday and Wednesday and described being sexually assaulted “over and over” by three men. She said oral sex was performed on her against her will by a woman.
Some of the alleged forced sex acts happened on a downstairs couch, she said, while others took place on a bed upstairs.
Two of the accused men held her arms down during some attacks, she said. Asked by the Crown how she felt after the oral sex incident, the witness covered her face, sobbed, and said, “I just felt helpless, like I couldn’t do anything ... It was just so disgusting.”
In response to Malfair’s question, “why didn’t you leave?” the witness said, “I was too scared ... I just thought if I just did what they said, I would get through it.”
On Wednesday, asked the same question, following another described sexual assault, she said, “I thought they would hurt me.”
Albert Piche, 31, Julian Niskakoski, 19, and Adam Boyd, 21, are each charged with five criminal offences in connection with the case: assault, two counts of sexual assault with a weapon/ threats/bodily harm, unlawful confinement or imprisonment, and administering a noxious thing with intent to endanger.
On the stand, the witness was asked details about each sexual assault she could recall and asked to name the man or men involved in each one. At one point during her lengthy and often tearful testimony Tuesday, she said, “they were all the same after that, one person would have sex with me, then another, and another, they would just take turns.”
The forced sexual penetrations were very painful for her, she said. Towards the end of her testimony Tuesday, she said, “the same thing just kept happening over and over and I just stopped feeling anything ... I felt like my body was there but I wasn’t there anymore.”
On Wednesday, the witness cried and began shaking as she was asked by the Crown to describe one occasion where she was sexually assaulted with a full bottle of vodka with the cap off.
She also testified one man pushed her face into lines of cocaine on a dresser in the bedroom.
“Did you voluntarily ingest that cocaine?” asked Malfair.
“No,” replied the witness.
In earlier testimony Monday, an RCMP investigator told the court about several items he retrieved from the the house and a series of pictures he took of the scene. In his description of the house, he noted there were sofas in the main floor living room and two bedrooms upstairs – one with a dresser in it.
He also said he retrieved two vodka bottles from the recycle bin on the main floor, and under a bed upstairs he found a condom.
The B.C. Supreme Court trial in Prince George is expected to last at least one week and is being heard before Madam Justice Sandra Ballance.
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