Relationship key point in Sarnia sex-assault court case
The close relationship between coach and protege has been under the microscope in a Lambton County courtroom.
The remaining questions for a judge to determine is whether some of that closeness was out of sexual appetite or a firm desire to create a champion.
On Friday, the final arguments were made by the defence and Crown before Ontario Court Justice Deborah Austin makes her decision in the new year in the case of former national gymnastic coach David Brubaker. Brubaker, 55, pleaded not guilty to sexual assault and sexual exploitation in connection with a now 31-year-old woman, who was an elite athlete at Bluewater Gymnastics between 2000 and 2007 when she was between the ages of 12 and 20.
Austin has heard that the woman lived with the Brubaker family for two years to continue training when they moved to Burlington, and maintained that relationship once she and the family returned to Sarnia. Since his arrest a year ago, Brubaker has seen his career take a tumble. His coaching career that took him to the Olympics has virtually ended.
The charges coincided with the woman’s steady rise in the national rankings, but ended before she attained her Olympic dream. Brubaker remains steadfast that he didn’t touch the woman in a sexual way, nor did he have any sexual feelings for her.
But the woman testified to Brubaker touching her buttocks when she got out of his car when he dropped her off at school after morning training sessions, inviting her to nap with him — when they would spoon and he would caress her belly — after he picked her up from school and took her home before evening training.
She also said Brubaker massaged her close to her groin area. Also added in are some eyebrowraising police techniques: The investigating officer’s wife is the complainant’s cousin, he was best man at the complainant’s wedding and she is the godmother of his child.
Defence lawyer Patrick Ducharme argued the Crown hasn’t made its case. He said the woman’s testimony was vague at best and the investigation was tainted by an officer who “lacked all professional distance.”
Brubaker, he said, testified in a forthright manner and was adamant he saw the woman to be more of a daughter than in a sexual way.