Man testifies at retrial he never agreed to sex
Complainant says doesn’t remember giving consent
Warning: graphic content
A 25-year-old man who says he blacked out and awoke to Skipp Edward Anderson having sex with him after a hot tub party three summers ago testified he was too intoxicated to consent.
The complainant testified on Tuesday that he does not remember consenting to the sex act with Anderson, the 42-year-old former owner of Pink Nightclub, who is standing trial on a sexual assault charge at Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench.
Anderson elected to have a judgealone retrial after the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal overturned his sexual assault conviction last year. A jury found Anderson guilty following a trial in 2018.
The complainant said he was “tipsy” after leaving a movie with a group of friends on July 10, 2016, and heading to Anderson’s house, where he drank two large plastic pool cups of overproof rum and cola that Anderson poured for him.
He said he remembers a friend coming over at 11:30 p.m. and his next memory is of Anderson anally penetrating him at 3:30 the next morning. He said the sex act hurt and he asked Anderson to stop. Anderson stopped and said it was OK because he had already “finished twice,” the man testified.
He said he then left Anderson’s house and called his friend.
“I was crying. I was confused and embarrassed.”
He said Anderson came outside to console him and told him nobody needed to know what had happened. They went back to sleep on separate sides of Anderson’s bed and Anderson drove him to school a few hours later, the complainant told court.
Later that day, he said he reported the incident to police and got a rape kit done at Royal University Hospital.
“I didn’t think it was OK, how drunk I was and waking up to that,” the man testified.
Under cross-examination, the complainant said while he remembers sitting on Anderson’s lap in the hot tub, he does not remember making any other sexual advances. The man agreed with defence lawyer Mark Brayford that it’s possible to be awake and doing things while intoxicated, without remembering those actions.
“Because you don’t have the memory about it, it’s possible that (Anderson’s) position, that you initiated the sex, is correct?” Brayford asked.
“Yes,” the man replied.
The Crown closed its case Tuesday after hearing from four of the seven people who were at the party. Their identities are subject to a publication ban, ordered by Justice Alison Rothery to protect the identity of the complainant. Court heard the witnesses and Anderson were part of a tight-knit friend group.
All three witnesses said the complainant was so intoxicated that he slipped under the hot tub water, was floating face-first on the surface and had to be carried into Anderson’s home.
“He was a 10 out of 10 at least. He was slurring his words,” one of the friends said, adding he saw Anderson put the man to bed in Anderson’s downstairs spare bedroom.
The complainant said he awoke in Anderson’s second-floor bedroom, but another witness said the man was still downstairs when he checked on him before leaving the party. “Everyone else seemed fine,” the witness said.
The defence is expected to call Anderson to testify on Wednesday.