Jorge Barrera
APTN National News
The trial of suspended Senator Patrick Brazeau resumed Thursday with the defence continuing its methodical cross-examination of the alleged victim’s assault story leading to the expected testimony of the fallen Algonquin politician.
Brazeau is facing a charge of assault and sexual assault and his case is being tried in a Gatineau, Que., courtroom almost directly across the Ottawa River from where he used to sit as a Conservative Senator in the Red Chamber on Parliament Hill.
The trial, by judge only, has already heard the alleged victim, who cannot be name, testify Brazeau pushed her down the stairs, slammed her head twice against a wall and stairs and twice sexually assaulted her.
The woman has also recounted how human smugglers got her out of Colombia where she said she feared for her life and that of her two children. She has also admitted she used fake Mexican passports for her and her children to get into Canada in 2008. She testified that she immediately turned over to the customs officer who dealt with her at the airport in Montreal.
Brazeau’s defence lawyer Gerard Larocque has been slowly constructing an alternate scenario that led to the two 911 calls by a weeping woman the morning of Feb. 7, 2013, from a rented house in Gatineau. In the defence’s scenario, the alleged victim was the aggressor who physically struggled against Brazeau so he wouldn’t break up with her.
Larocque told reporters during one of the trial breaks that the fallen Algonquin politician would likely be testifying. He said there are “two sides” to the story. He said Brazeau’s face was bruised and scratched as a result of the events of that day now under scrutiny in the courtroom.
On Thursday morning, Larocque focused on the alleged victim’s face.
Media cannot show the face because of a publication ban on the victim’s name.
There are no close-up photographs of the woman’s face submitted as evidence because she suffered no bruises or markings during the alleged assault, said Larocque.
“(The police) didn’t see anything,” said Larocque.
“I remember I told police where I felt where I had been hit and I showed the places and the police took photos,” she said.
Photographs showing bruising and scratches on the victim’s arms, legs, neck and back have also been submitted as evidence.
The alleged victim, who is now into the fourth day of testimony, most of it under cross-examination, has repeatedly testified Brazeau never hit her in the face. She also said during a second 911 call from that February morning in 2013 that she wasn’t hit in the face.
Larocque played a video in the courtroom of the alleged victim’s interview with police where she describes the alleged assault. In the video, the woman describes, with gestures and words, that Brazeau hit her with a closed fist on the arm and with an open hand in the face. She taps her face quickly and lightly with her hand as she describes the event.
An interpreter, who is translating from French to Spanish and back again for the alleged witness, uses the word “cachetada,” the Spanish word for a slap in the face.
“Where was he when he was slapping you in the face?” said Larocque.
“I don’t remember,” she said.
“The man slapping you in the face, he is an angry man?” said Larocque.
“Yes,” she said.
“It’s the same man that pushed you down the stairs?” said Larocque.
“Yes,” she said.
“He’s mad,” he said.
“Yes,” she said.
Larocque then turned to the alleged victim’s written statement which she drafted on the kitchen table of the rented Gatineau house shortly after police arrived following the 911 call.
“On the second page, ‘He hit me with his right hand in the face.’ Is that your writing?” said Larocque.
“Yes,” she said.
“So, you told police he hit you with his right hand in the face,” said Larocque.
“Yes,” she said.
“But today you don’t remember he hit you in the face,” he said.
“I don’t remember how many times he hit me, I remember he hit me,” she said.
The alleged victim also revealed for the first time she spit back at Brazeau after he spit in her face.
The trial continues Thursday afternoon.
Larocque told reporters the trial is expected to last several more days.
@JorgeBarrera
