Aubrey Levin not able to cross-examine in sex assault trial

A former Calgary forensic psychiatrist on trial for sexual assault charges now says he is not qualified to act as his own lawyer.

Aubrey Levin, who is accused of sexually assaulting 10 male patients, fired his lawyer earlier this week.

The first witness to testify in a Calgary courtroom Thursday morning as Levin represented himself was Dr. Francois Belanger, the Calgary medical zone director of Alberta Health Services.

Belanger said Levin was allowed to do physical exams, but was expected to practise as a forensic psychiatrist and did not have privilege to conduct procedures in urology, which is the branch of medicine concerned with the function of the urinary system.

Three videos were shown earlier in the trial from an alleged victim who recorded his appointments with Levin by wearing a spy cam wrist watch. The videos show Levin undoing the alleged victim’s pants and fondling him for more than 10 minutes.

Judge steps in

When Levin was asked to cross examine, he stood up and said, "Milady, I have never been trained as a lawyer. I have never been trained to do cross-examination and over and beyond that, I am hampered by..." — and that's we he was cut off by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Donna Shelley, who sent the jury out.

The jury was later informed that there would be no cross-examination for this morning's three witnesses, one of them being the chief probation officer for the Calgary area.

Most of the alleged victims had a criminal record and were on medication at the time they met with Levin as part of a court order.

The third witness was an ex-girlfriend of one of the alleged victims, and while she was not cross-examined the judge did ask clarifying questions.

"I regret I am not trained to cross examine," Levin later reiterated in court.

The trial is set to resume on Monday and it's not clear at this point whether Levin will do any questioning in his own defence — including the 10 alleged victims who are set to testify.