Accused in ‘keep your knees together’ case says he’s too Christian to commit sex assault

The suspect in a sexual-assault case that threatens to bring down a judge told court Wednesday his Christian faith supports his innocence of the crime.

During a second day of cross-examination, Alexander Scott Wagar testified his Christian values meant he wouldn’t have sexually assaulted a woman in the bathroom of a northwest basement suite on Dec. 13, 2011.

“If she ever made any kind of objection, I swear on a Bible I am a Christian, I would have stopped,” said Wagar. “If a woman says ‘no’ it means no.” Wagar remained animated under questioning from Crown prosecutor Janice Walsh, even propping himself atop the witness stand to emulate how his alleged victim was positioned on a bathroom sink counter during their sexual encounter during a drunken party.

He frequently graphically expounded on the episode well beyond Walsh’s questioning.

“I’ll ask the next question if you’ll stop,” said Walsh at one point.

While Wagar said he believed the woman consented to having sex with him, the prosecutor noted he admitted to taking the lead throughout.

“You never asked her at all at any point of time that this is OK ... she never said ‘yes?’ ” she asked.

Responded Wagar: “She never said ‘yes’ directly.” The accused said he felt comfortable with the situation and “just went for it.”

He told court the woman, then 19, willingly fondled him, had intercourse, then followed him into a shower where they had more sex.

The proceedings are a retrial after Wagar’s 2014 acquittal was overturned, partly due to controversial comments made by the first trial’s Judge Robin Camp.

At that time, Camp asked the alleged victim why she didn’t lower her bottom into the sink to avoid sexual penetration and “why couldn’t you just keep your knees together?”

Last September, the Canadian Judicial Council held an inquiry into Camp’s case and could decide to remove him from he federal bench.

On Wednesday, Judge Jerry LeGrandeur repeatedly objected to Wagar’s rambling on in response to Walsh’s questions. Prosecutor Walsh noted Wagar had told court he yanked down the alleged victim’s jeans in the bathroom that evening.

“You pulled down her pants with enough force to tear her zipper?” she asked him.

Wagar said he believed “I took her zipper down halfway, I’m not 100 per cent sure.”

He also admitted to drunkenly exposing himself to the alleged victim and two others who reacted with shock earlier at the party.

On Tuesday, the alleged victim finished more than seven hours of testimony over two days in which she insisted Wagar had forced himself on her, adding she was too scared to forcefully resist.

The trial is scheduled to wrap up Friday, with the defence seeking two witnesses who have failed to appear.