Woman who says ex-SMU groundskeeper raped her sobs as video played again

A woman who says she was raped by a former Saint Mary's University groundskeeper left a Halifax courtroom sobbing Tuesday after a cellphone video of the alleged assault was played for a second time.

The woman faced cross-examination for much of the day at the trial of Matthew Percy, as his defence lawyer tried to point out inconsistencies between her testimony and what she told police, and suggested the sex was consensual.

Percy, 35, is charged with sexual assault and voyeurism, and is facing the second of four trials involving different women. He has pleaded not guilty.

The complainant in the current case has testified in Halifax provincial court that Percy attacked her last September in a dorm room on the university campus after they walked home from the downtown bar district.

She said Tuesday she was extremely drunk and only partly remembers what happened that night. She said she did not consent to sex and only learned last November from Halifax police that Percy had filmed it on his phone.

Percy's lawyer, Brad Sarson, started cross-examining the woman Monday afternoon and continued questioning her on Tuesday. At one point, Sarson asked whether she remembered Percy asking if she wanted him to stop and her replying "No."

Later, Crown prosecutor Rick Woodburn replayed a section of Percy's cellphone video where a male voice is heard asking "Do you want me to stop?" The whispered reply appears to be "No," but the woman testified it's not clear.

Woodburn apologized for replaying the video, which was first played in court Monday, and Judge Elizabeth Buckle told the woman she only needed to listen and not watch. When asked if she needed a break, the woman replied, "I just want to get it over with."

Much of Sarson's cross-examination Tuesday focused on apparent discrepancies between what the woman said to police last year and her testimony Monday.

The woman first spoke to police hours after the alleged sexual assault. She told court that at the time, she was in a great deal of pain from her encounter with Percy and from her treatment at hospital where a rape kit was administered.

She said she was given several large pills to take and they made her violently ill. All those factors, she said, explained why her answers in the first interview were somewhat brief.

Statements scrutinized

Police interviewed her again in November. At that time, they revealed they had recovered videos from Percy's cellphone.

Those videos have been shown in court. In one, the woman is seen performing oral sex on Percy. In the second video, he is lying naked on top of her as she is sprawled naked across the bed. She does not appear responsive in the second video.

And while Percy speaks to her, the only sounds in response are moans, whimpers and other incoherent noises.

On Tuesday, Sarson noted that in the first video the woman's hair is dry while in the second video it is wet.

The woman has testified that after she arrived at the dorm with Percy, she went to take a shower. She acknowledged that the videos appear to suggest the incidents that evening went on for much longer than she first told police.

The woman testified she had no idea her first statements to police would be so closely scrutinized. She said she thought things would all be sorted out with her testimony at trial.

Pressing charges

She admitted to the defence that she had provided much more detail this week than she did in talking to police. She also said it wasn't until she learned of the existence of the videos that she became determined to press charges against Percy.

She said her inclination at first had been to just move on with her life.

The woman is the only witness to testify so far at a trial that is scheduled to run all week. She is one of four women to allege they've been sexually assaulted by Percy.

He was acquitted earlier this month of charges involving one of those women following a trial. Allegations involving the other two women have yet to be tested in court.

The CBC's Blair Rhodes live blogged from court. Mobile users can follow along here.