Closing arguments begin in John Roberts sexual assault trial
The Crown has presented evidence of John Michael Roberts as easily angered and often possessive, sexually assaulting a woman with a beer bottle and criminally harassing her by vandalizing her vehicle, persistently calling her, and showing up outside her home late at night, revving his engine.
The defence has presented evidence of the woman as the aggressor, showing up at Roberts’ workplace and causing a scene, parking outside his home in the night, attempting to bait him in recorded phone calls, and fabricating the sexual assault out of revenge.
Once the lawyers finish their closing submissions next week, it will be up to Judge Jacqueline Brazil to decide the truth.
Robert, 51, has pleaded not guilty to charges of criminally harassing a woman over a period of about a month last year and sexually assaulting her with a weapon — a beer bottle — in the summer of 2017. Over the past week, Crown prosecutor Nicole Hurley called six witnesses to testify, beginning with the complainant.
The complainant told the court she had first gone to the RNC in January 2018, after she had woken up to find her vehicle spray-painted with the words “Two-dollar whore.” Her place of work and her mother’s vehicle had also been spraypainted, and a gas can had been left on her doorstep, she said.
She said she believed Roberts was responsible, because he had tried calling her close to two dozen times a few nights earlier, and they had gotten into an argument on the phone the next day.
She told the court of Roberts getting angry because she had plans with her family for a holiday dinner, and of child protection authorities calling her the next day, saying they had received a complaint from a man alleging she had left her child home alone.
After she bought a trip down south, Roberts surprised her a few days before she left when he told her he had bought himself the same trip, she said, though she acknowledged under cross-examination that she had given her travel agent permission to discuss her flight details with Roberts for the purpose of booking a co-ordinating vacation. The woman said she and Roberts were sometimes on good terms, but those periods were short-lived and ended for good after the vandalism.
The woman said Roberts called her persistently from a blocked caller ID, and kept calling her until about the end of March. She said she believed the calls were Roberts since he was on the other end of the line on the few times when she had answered the call and he had always used a blocked number previously, and a police investigation had confirmed the calls had come from one of Roberts’ phones.
One night in February, the woman contacted police after she said Roberts had arrived in his vehicle outside her home, and had been calling her over and over.
The woman said the night Roberts had sexually assaulted her, they had been having consensual sex which ended when he picked up a beer bottle. She cried as she described telling him twice to stop and physically trying to block him as he assaulted her.
The woman’s best friend testified and corroborated the details, for the most part.
Defence lawyer Rosellen Sullivan called four witnesses to testify, including one of Roberts’ co-workers at a drycleaners, who described the woman coming to the business to drop off a dress and a heated exchange taking place with Roberts. Roberts had told the woman she shouldn’t be there, the coworkers testified, and the woman swore at him and told him she could go wherever she wanted.
Roberts’ neighbour testified that he had seen a vehicle matching that of the complainant, with a female driver matching her description, park in the driveway he shared with Roberts late at night. He called police to report it, he said. The RNC who took the complaint also testified, saying she had run the plate number to discover the vehicle belonged to the complainant. She called the woman and advised her to stay away from Robert’s residence, thought the woman said she hadn’t been there.
A man employed by Roberts to maintain his home video surveillance system told the court he had reviewed video footage from one of the nights when Roberts was alleged to be outside the woman’s home, and had seen Roberts on camera at home the whole night.
In her closing arguments Friday, Sullivan said there was no evidence the woman was harassed or fearful of Roberts, and questioned whether a sexual assault with an entire beer bottle was even possible, and with no injuries.
Hurley, who has yet to finish her closing arguments, filled in holes in her case Friday, explaining the woman had dropped a peace bond application she had filed against Roberts because she had been scared to testify at that hearing, and because the police had told her at that point Roberts was likely going to be charged and under order not to contact her anyway. The woman didn’t report the sexual assault to police for 10 months, Hurley said, because she didn’t feel ready to talk about it. Hurley noted a police officer had testified this was common in sexual assault cases.
Some of the calls the woman alleged Roberts had made to her hadn’t been recorded on her phone bill, Hurley said, pointing to the testimony of another RNC officer for an explanation. If an incoming call isn’t answered and doesn’t go to voice mail, it isn’t recorded by that particular service provider.
The closing arguments are scheduled to finish next week.