Man on trial for sex assault says woman began ‘hookup’

A second charge of publishing intimate image without consent on Facetime dismissed by judge

Warning: This story contains graphic details. Aman on trial for sexual assault testified Monday his accuser was the one who initiated their “hookup” and the sex that followed, after the two met at a downtown Toronto bar on May 12, 2016.

But under cross-examination, Patrick Walsh denied he was characterizing her as the aggressor, saying everything about their encounter was “mutual.”

Before Walsh took the stand Monday, Superior Court Justice Kelly Byrne told the jury she was dismissing a second count against him of publishing an intimate image without consent.

The charge related to the young woman’s evidence that Walsh streamed Face Time video of her naked and vomiting in his bathroom after forcing her to have intercourse.

The accused, a 22-year-old native of Dundas, Ont., testified Monday he had just returned to Canada and was hanging out and drinking with his friends after finishing his first year at a Detroit university on a lacrosse scholarship.

They went to Grace O’Malley’s pub on Duncan St. where he ran into a then 19-year-old woman, who cannot be identified. They had met on one previous occasion.

Walsh testified that after they swapped cellphones to exchange social media accounts, she sent a text from his phone to her own that said: “you’re coming over tonight” — a text he said he deleted later.

After they went outside, Walsh said he asked if she wanted to go back to his mother’s nearby condo and have a drink.

Walsh testified he told her he was on a hiatus from his girlfriend — they were going through a “rough patch” — and asked if she had a boyfriend. “She said ‘no,’ then she said, ‘OK but, if you’re down, I’m down.’ At that point we just kind of embraced each other and were kissing.”

Once at the condo, Walsh said the two started kissing again as they made their way into the bedroom.

Things went quickly from there, he told the jury. The woman stripped off her clothes — he removed his shirt and pants and she helped with his underwear — and she straddled him, and gave him oral sex, he said. The woman testified he pushed her head down to his groin area, against her will but she said nothing at the time.

“Did you push her head?” asked Kerbel. “No,” Walsh replied.

After oral sex, Walsh said she wrapped her legs around him and he asked her if he should get a condom. She didn’t respond, he said. Shortly after, she got up to use bathroom, where Walsh heard her throwing up.

The woman said that happened after he forced her to have intercourse, which she objected to several times. Walsh said no penetration happened.

Nor, Walsh said, did he livestream images of the woman naked and throwing up on the iPhone Face Time app.

The trial continues Tuesday.