Decision to follow in David Case, Celine Loyer sexual assault trial

A Sudbury judge is reserving her decision in the sexual assault trial of a prominent Sudbury track coach and his protege.

David Case and former Olympic hopeful Celine Loyer face charges of sexual assault in connection with an incident in 2011.

During the trial, the court heard that Case and Loyer befriended a woman who worked at a Sudbury restaurant where they regularly ate.

In the summer of 2011, it's alleged that the woman visited Case and Loyer at his apartment, shared a few drinks, then at some point in the evening fell unconscious.

In the days following, she reported an assault to police and spoke with a sexual assault nurse at the hospital.  She said she wanted to press charges, but was told by the police in 2011 that there wasn't enough evidence to make a sexual assault complaint.

In her closing arguments, Assistant Crown Attorney Stephanie Baker added that evidence of bruising on the victim's body– consistent with that of assault– suggests there was non-consensual sexual activity between the parties.

Baker also said that during a four-hour period in which the accuser was unconscious, she was unable to give consent to sexual activity. 

The woman began to remember details of the attack in the days following the incident. Those included "flashbacks" where she saw Case standing over her while Loyer was between her legs.

On Wednesday, Case's lawyer, Nick Xynnis, made a motion to have the charges against his client dropped, as testimony from the victim implied Case was present in the room at the time of the alleged assault, but not involved. 

Justice Patricia Hennessy dismissed that motion Thursday morning. 

Xynnis also said in his closing arguments that during the four hours in which the alleged assault took place, the woman was unconscious, leaving a big gap in the accuser's narrative of events.

"If you're asleep, unconscious, you're passed out, you're not observing what's going on. Around you, to you, above you," Xynnis said. "If you're awake, that's a different story altogether."

Loyer's lawyer, Michael Haraschuk, said that memories of the incident only began trickling in "like a dream" to the accuser, and were unreliable as evidence.

The parties will appear in court February 4 to set a date for decision.

Case stood trial earlier this month on a different set of sexual assault charges, accused by a former teen sprinter that he later married in the 1980s. 

The verdict on those accusations is expected in March.