Defence asks questions about text messages in sexual assault trial

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story contains descriptions of sexual assault that some may find disturbing

The woman who has made multiple sexual and physical assault allegations against Tyson Noel, denied his lawyer's contention Thursday that she went to police to get back at him and a woman he was seeing.

"I didn't do this because because I was vindictive and angry," she told Eric McCooeye. "He'd hurt me and I felt safe enough to report it."

Jurors at the 22-year-old man's trial heard earlier that she had spoken to police on Oct. 24, 2015 after telling her mother about his abusive behaviour.

"I felt comfortable enough to tell someone," she explained to assistant Crown attorney Heidi Mitchell on Wednesday.

On Thursday, during his second day of cross-examination of the 21-year-old complainant, McCooeye showed her an Oct. 24 text message, which she had sent to the woman Noel was seeing, calling her a "f**king  tramp," wishing her "luck with the lying pile of sh*t," and telling her "I hope you enjoy being beaten and raped . . . "

She agreed when McCooeye suggested she had been repeatedly trying to get in touch with Noel and the text was sent prior to her complaint to police.

The complainant indicated she was upset when she sent the message, but insisted she wasn't after she spoke with her mother, who said she should call police.

She rejected McCooeye's assertion that she was angry, and wanted to get back at Noel and the woman.

"I didn't do this to get back at them," she maintained, before telling McCooeye she doesn't remember sending a text saying "screw you."

Noel has pleaded not guilty to 16 charges, including five counts of sexual assault, three counts of forcible confinement, single counts each of assault causing bodily harm and threatening to kill a dog, as well as other assault-related charges.

A court order prohibits reporting the woman's identity.

On Thursday, McCooeye continued asking the woman about discrepancies between her testimony at the trial and evidence she gave at a preliminary hearing a year ago, as well as what she told police or wrote in a journal she had prepared for investigators about what had occurred.

He played a 15-minute portion of a video of a city police detective's interview with the woman.

The officer had left the room and the complainant can be seen looking through her journal.

"I was just making sure I'd reported all the things I'd written down," she explained to McCooeye.

The lawyer focused on some of the differences in the testimony the court was hearing this week and what she had stated earlier.

He pointed to her evidence that Noel had tied her to a bed with housecoat ties and sexually assaulted her.

McCooeye asked if ropes had been used in these incidents, and she replied "no, it was housecoat ties."

He then referred to her journal, where she had indicated Noel had used ropes.

Jurors were then shown another clip from the city police interview, where she told the officer "multiple, multiple times he would tie me down to the bed . . . with ropes."

McCooeye wondered if she had the told the police that he used ropes because it "sounded more dramatic."

The woman retorted no, but said she had no explanation as to why she had described being tied with ropes.

The defence also asked why she hadn't included information in her journal about an incident where she alleged Noel had sexually assaulted her with a wooden drum stick.

"When I wrote the journal I didn't remember it so I hadn't written it down. I couldn't remember all details."

McCooeye questioned why she had initially reported that it was a broomstick, and played a portion of the police video where she talked about the incident.

"Do you know the difference between a broomstick and a drum stick?" he asked.

"I remember it was a wooden stick and I thought it was a drum stick," she responded.

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