'I did not consent' to sex with 2 men, woman testifies in gang sexual assault trial

A woman faced intense questioning from the defence in Ontario Superior Court on Tuesday after she testified she did not consent to any of the sexual acts with two men caught on video inside a Little Italy bar three years ago.

Under cross examination, the defence suggested the woman, who was testifying via video, was a willing participant in  "rough" but consensual sex acts on Dec. 14, 2016.  

Former bar owner Gavin MacMillan, 44, and manager Enzo De Jesus Carrasco, 34, have pleaded not guilty to charges of gang sexual assault, administering a stupefying drug and forcible confinement. De Jesus Carrasco also faces two additional charges of sexual assault.  Justice Michael Dambrot is presiding over their trial.

The sex acts were captured on about nine hours of video from the bar, which were played for the jury earlier in the trial. The jurors are being asked to determine whether the woman was capable of consenting after being encouraged to consume large amounts of alcohol and cocaine.

The woman, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, admitted she willingly snorted two lines of cocaine with MacMillan and De Jesus Carrasco,  but has a "hazy" memory of what happened that night in the College Street Bar. 

MacMillan's defence lawyer, Sean Robichaud, played multiple excerpts from the surveillance video during his cross examination. In one scene time stamped approximately 5:30 a.m., after being in the bar all night, she is seen performing a sex act.

Robichaud asked the woman, "Would you agree you appear to be smiling at this point? Do you agree you were smiling and talking to Mr. MacMillan?

The woman replied, "It's hard to tell, the video is very distorted... It's not very clear."  

Robichaud then asked,  "If I were to suggest to you you were consenting and having a good time, you would disagree?"

"I was not consenting at any point to any kind of sexual activity, to any kissing or anything like that," the woman testified.

"What I am suggesting to you .... is not only were you smiling but you were having a good time," Robichaud pressed.

The defence lawyer also played an earlier excerpt from the the video showing the woman leaving the bar 10 minutes before midnight, and then coming back inside. The jury heard in her statement to police she said she never left the bar.

"The reason you told the police that you never left the bar is because it doesn't help you with your allegation you were forcibly confined," said Robichaud.

"I don't remember any of this," the woman replied,  "I am crashing into tables ... That doesn't look like a normal sober person. I  looked really messed up. How does that look sober? I can't even walk in a straight line.

"Most of these videos you show me I don't even remember."

Robichaud then questioned her about deleting video on her phone of the sexual activity with MacMillan and De Jesus Carrasco. She had testified earlier this week she deleted it in a panic after her then-boyfriend discovered the images.

Robichaud suggested she deleted the video because "we could hear what was going on and we could hear your consent."

The woman responded: "I did not consent. I would have been very happy to give that all to the police. That's what I was hoping they could pull from the cloud... I have nothing to hide."

Then Robichaud presented an exchange of text messages sent between the woman and a friend who was taking a bartending course taught by MacMillan earlier that evening. The friend's identity is also protected by a publication ban. The woman testified she couldn't remember getting or sending the following text message on her phone at 10:10 p.m.

'Girlie be careful tonight'

Friend: "Girlie be careful tonight. Enzo can be pushy"

Woman: "I will babe don't worry."

The next morning more text messages were exchanged. The alleged victim testified she vaguely remembers getting or receiving them.

Friend:"Hey did you get back OK?

Woman: "I got really drunk and your f**king workers took advantage of me."

The woman testified she sent that message in a panic.

Robichaud responded  "the reason you were panicking I am going to suggest ...is because you were embarrassed that you had this sexual activity with Mr. MacMillan and Mr. De Jesus [Carrasco] and you were embarrassed about your friend ... finding out after she had warned you."

"No, the panic was ... about going to the cops and what to do about it and who to talk to ... I didn't know what to do," she said.

Later, the woman sent a text to her friend saying she would never go back to the bar.

Robichaud replied, "The reason you said you are never going back there is because you were embarrassed, not because you were sexually assaulted. You were embarrassed at what you participated in consensually."

"No", she said, "I was horrified. I didn't want to go back anywhere around there."

In another text that morning the woman wrote:

"I am bruised EVERYWHERE. What am I going to tell my ... boyfriend."

The defence's cross examination continues when the trial resumes Wednesday.