City man denies woman’ s sexual assault claims at trial

A Lethbridge man accused of sexually assaulting a drunken woman while she was asleep in his bedroom, didn’t do anything in the room but watch Netflix and eat Hot Pockets, he said Tuesday during his trial in Lethbridge Court of Queen’s Bench.

Ivan Iain Palmer remained unfazed while co-Crown Prosecutor Tom Brannen grilled him about the alleged assault on Nov. 2, 2019, and simply answered “no” when Brannen suggested he pulled the woman’s pants down while she slept on a couch in the accused’s bedroom, then inappropriately touched her. And when Brannen suggested Palmer was so drunk himself that he could have just made an error in judgement, the accused adamantly denied it.

"It never crossed my mind," he said. "It never happened."

The woman, who can’t be identified under a court-ordered publication ban, testified Monday she and her girlfriend were “hanging out” at Palmer’s northside residence, where they visited, watched TV and drank heavily. Eventually the woman became so intoxicated she fell into a bathtub and had to be helped to the couch, where her girlfriend and Palmer’s wife covered her with a blanket.

The woman testified that when she woke up later, someone was touching her, and her pants and underwear had been pulled down to her ankles. At first she thought she might have dreamed or imagined it, or that her girlfriend had touched her. But when her girlfriend denied it, the woman realized it must have been Palmer because he was the only other person in the room.

The woman also told court that after she awoke, she lay still and listened for a minute and felt something, but wasn’t sure what was happening.

She also heard someone say, "it’s OK, it’s OK."

Palmer testified that sometime after the woman had been placed on the couch, he went to the kitchen to heat up some Hot Pockets, and returned to the bedroom where he sat on the corner of his bed and turned on the TV. He said the woman awoke with the noise of Netflix starting, and, with a panicked look on her face, asked, "where am I, what’s going on?"

As Palmer arose to get the woman’s girlfriend, she walked into the room, but he continued into the kitchen to retrieve the Hot Pockets then returned to the bedroom to watch TV.

The two women were leaving the room as he entered.

Shortly afterward his wife came into the room and asked if he had touched the woman.

During closing arguments Tuesday, Lethbridge lawyer Greg White said there is doubt as to whether the woman actually felt anyone touch her, and if someone had, it could have been any one of the other three adults in the home, particularly the woman’s girlfriend. White suggested the girlfriend’s denial can’t be any more or less believable that Palmer’s, and he suggested the complainant may even have pulled down her own pants. "She was so drunk she could have done it herself."

Co-Crown prosecutor Sheena Campbell reminded court that the woman testified she saw Palmer leaning over the back of the couch when she woke up, and his explanation for why he was in the bedroom alone with the sleeping woman was contrived and unbelievable.

She also reminded court the girlfriend testified Palmer dared her to touch the woman’s breast while she was passed out, indicating the man’s state of mind at the time.

The trial has concluded, but Justice Vaughan Hartigan has reserved his decision. The matter is scheduled to return to court Feb. 22 to set a date for his decision.