‘I thought he was sober,’ accused tells court
Warning: sexual content
A former Saskatoon nightclub owner says he thought the sex he had with a friend after a night of partying was consensual because the man initiated it and there was no force or violence used.
Skipp Edward Anderson, 42, testified on Wednesday that he was sober and lonely when he crawled into bed to cuddle with the man, who he earlier put to bed because the man was intoxicated and slipping under the water in Anderson’s hot tub. Anderson said he never intended to have sex with him until the man started kissing him and touching his genitals.
Anderson’s judge-alone sexual assault trial began on Monday in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench. On Tuesday, the complainant, now 25, testified he was heavily intoxicated at Anderson’s hot tub party, blacked out and awoke to Anderson having non-consensual sex with him on July 11, 2016.
The complainant said Anderson stopped when he told him to do so.
On Wednesday, Anderson told court that was the second time they’d had sex that night. He said the complainant initiated both encounters.
He testified that he thought the man was intoxicated earlier in the night, but believed he was sober when they had sex a few hours later because the complainant was communicating and actively engaged.
He said he considered himself a “passive partner.”
Anderson said he consumed three glasses of overproof rum and coke that night, but did not consider himself “drunk” despite describing himself as a “two-drink drunk” because he rarely consumes alcohol.
On cross-examination, he admitted that in his 2016 police statement, he said he was drunk when he got into bed with his friend. In the statement, he said he believed the man was still drunk after they had sex because he told him they could talk about what happened in the morning “when he was sober.”
When he found the man crying outside, Anderson said it was because he was embarrassed about their “one night stand” and didn’t want their friends to find out.
“Why did you engage in sexual intercourse with (him)?” defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle asked Anderson.
“He’s one of the few people I trusted. I was lonely; I’d been single for quite some time. He’s a wonderful person,” Anderson replied.
He initially testified it was “awkward” when the complainant was kissing and groping him in the hot tub, but told the Crown he was aroused by “flirtatious behaviour.”
The complainant testified he recalls sitting on Anderson’s lap in the hot tub, but does not remember making any other sexual advances. Three Crown witnesses testified the man could not hold himself up in the hot tub, and Anderson carried him into his downstairs bedroom around 11:30 p.m.
The other defence witness, a friend of Anderson’s who stayed after the party, said he noticed the complainant was in a bedroom after he and Anderson returned from getting food around 2:30 a.m.
Anderson originally stood trial on the sexual assault charge in 2018 and was convicted by a jury. However, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal overturned his conviction last year.
Closing arguments have been adjourned until Thursday afternoon.