Ex-Woodstock mayor Trevor Birtch denies sexual assaults, tells court 'cocaine' was crushed-up pain pills

WARNING: This story references allegations of sexual assault and contains graphic content.

Testifying for the first time since his sexual assault trial began last week, former Woodstock, Ont., mayor Trevor Birtch denied repeatedly assaulting a woman he had been dating, saying he drove her to hospital after she was injured by another man and brought her food when she needed it. 

Birtch, 49, was in the witness box Monday afternoon in a London courtroom following the testimony of two women — whose names are protected under a court order — over a total of five days.

One of the women said she had ended a friendship with Birtch after hearing him brag in phone messages to her about assaulting another woman. 

The other woman, who dated Birtch on and off from 2017 to 2022, testified Birtch would regularly force her to have sex with him without her consent, often after they'd both been using cocaine and alcohol while on drives or during his almost daily visits to her apartment.  

The woman also said she saw him use cocaine during breaks in a city council meeting that he had joined via video chat. 

Birtch, however, told a very different story on Monday afternoon under questioning by his lawyer, James Battin. 

He said he only used cocaine a few times with the woman and she was the one who had supplied the drug — she previously told the court they regularly used cocaine brought by Birtch. 

White powder was crushed pain pills, ex-mayor says

Birtch did admit to snorting a white powder when the pair were together, but said the powder was pain relief tablets that had been crushed up and put into bags. He told the court snorting the powder gave him quicker relief from a shoulder injury than swallowing the tablets.  

"She found the crushed Aleve in my medicine cabinet and she made the comments that I had buckets full of cocaine, but it was the crushed baggies of pills," he testified. 

One of the three counts Birtch faces involves an alleged assault in August 2021 when the couple took a drive to Turkey Point, a beach location on Lake Erie about an hour from Woodstock. 

The woman had testified the pair stopped in a secluded area while Birtch set up a barbecue on a picnic table and began to cook sweet corn and sausages. She said Birtch didn't interfere when a stranger, who had joined them at the table, started to argue with her and then struck her to the ground. 

Birtch testified he did come to her aid after the man knocked her down, telling the court the man took a swipe at him with a knife that sliced his shirt but not his skin. 

The woman testified Birtch had forced her to perform oral sex on him while she squatted at the roadside to urinate during the drive back to Woodstock. In Birtch's version, he had only held her hands while she squatted because she was unsteady on her feet. He said no assault took place, and he drove her home and put her to bed in her apartment after stopping to buy her pain medication at a pharmacy.

Birtch testified that the next day, he drove the woman to Alexandra Hospital in Ingersoll, waiting outside for her before driving her home afterward. 

The second count involves an alleged rape in the woman's apartment in April 2022. Birtch testified that on that night, the woman had called, asking him to get food for her. He told the court he took her to Tim Hortons, then McDonald's, then went to Giant Tiger to buy her milk and other staples before taking her home.

Birtch explains alarming audio tape

One of the most alarming pieces of evidence presented in the judge-only Superior Court trial was an audio recording Birtch had sent to the first woman who testified. In it, Birtch brags about assaulting a woman over the course of three days in the attic of a house he was renting. He talks about how he tied her up, beat her and spit on her. He also laughs on the tape about how his son, a teenager at the time, later asked him about the source of the noise. 

Birtch said the tape was recorded in response to a request from the woman to send her snippets about his dating life. The snippets were to be assembled in a story "like a Penthouse letter" for a Christmas gift. 

"She told me to send her some voice clips and the story would be written in the third person," Birtch told the court. "That's what I did. That's what those clips are."

The third count covers a period from Jan. 1, 2017, to April 22, 2022, and any unwanted sexual activity between Birtch and the complainant.

The trial is scheduled to resume on Sept. 20, when Birtch is due to be cross-examined by assistant Crown attorney Jennifer Moser. 

Birtch served two terms as mayor until his defeat in 2022. The trial currently underway follows his conviction last month on separate assault and sexual assault charges. 

Support is available for anyone who has been sexually assaulted. You can access crisis lines and local support services through this Government of Canada website or the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. ​​If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.