'It did not happen' man accused of sexual assault, violence, tells jury

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story includes details of sexual assault and violence that some may find disturbing

Tyson Noel repeatedly denied Friday that he sexually abused or physically assaulted a local woman, who has accused him of multiple criminal acts.

The 23-year-old man took the witness stand in his own defence on the fourth day of his trial on 16 charges involving the complainant.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges that include five counts of sexual assault, six counts of assault-related offences, three counts of forcible confinement and single counts each of assault causing bodily harm and threatening to kill a dog.

The offences are alleged to have occurred in 2014 and 2015.

Noel spent about an hour responding to questions put to him by his lawyer Eric McCooeye.

He will return to the stand Monday for cross-examination by assistant Crown attorney Heidi Mitchell.

The young man agreed with his counsel that he has "been accused of some pretty awful things."

"I have never been arrested in my entire life," before this, he told the jury of eight women and four men.

Noel denied ever punching the complainant in the eye, or on her arm or leg.

He said there had been horseplay between them. 

"I've had bruises from her. Sometimes she may have got bruises from horseplay."

He insisted that an incident she described of him lifting her up by the throat and throwing her across the floor into the living room, where she was knocked unconscious when she hit her head on a portable heater, did not occur.

"I don't think I could throw someone three or four feet," he told McCooeye. "It did not happen."

The defence then asked about another incident where she testified that he had put a kitchen knife to her throat and also had threatened to kill the dog with the knife.

Noel said he never did that, adding "I loved that dog."

The accused also rejected the woman's contention that he had pulled her by the hair, backwards into a headrest, during an argument in a vehicle at the Essar Centre parking lot in October 2015.

"She hugged me and I hugged her back," he said, indicating that was the only physical interaction between them.

McCooeye then asked Noel about an incident two or three days prior to that where the complainant said he had sexually assaulted her.

Noel testified that the pair had argued, then "we hugged it out." 

His lawyer asked if there was any "shoving, pushing and assaultive behaviour by you," and he replied "no."

Noel denied that he had put her phone down the front of his pants and told her she had to have sex to get it back.

The complainant said he had pushed her down on the bed, pulled her pants and his pants down, and covered her mouth when she tried to scream.

Noel told his lawyer he did not do this, suggesting this seemed like it would be hard to do.

When McCooeye questioned him about an allegation that he had sexually assaulted the woman with a frozen hot dog, he said that what occurred was consensual.

"She said she wanted to try it," after they had watched a video, he explained. "I did what she wanted."

"She didn't complain, kick or fight you," McCooeye asked.

"No, she did not," was his answer.

"That didn't happen at all," he replied, when asked if he sexually assaulted the complainant with a wooden broomstick or drum stick.

He testified that there had been three or four times when he had used ties from bathrobes to tie her up.

"We discussed it ahead of time," Noel said. "We would play fight and she'd give in. I never had to force her to do anything."

He insisted that it never got to the point where she was injured or hurt.

"She may have slapped me play fighting."

Earlier on Friday, the court heard from the 21-year-old complainant's grandmother, who testified that she had noticed bruises on the woman's body - "nine or 10 times. I'm not exactly sure." 

She recalled one incident, where her granddaughter had an inch-to-an-inch-and-a -half purple bruise on the bicep shoulder area of her left arm.

"I asked where she got it. She dropped her head and wouldn't look at me. She said the dog jumped on her. I thought she was lying."

She also told jurors about a bruise the woman had below her right eye, "maybe in early September 2015."

The witness choked back tears when she described another time, when her granddaughter came into her apartment "crying and said no one cared about her."

She said she told the young woman there were lots of people who cared about her, and if Noel was hitting or abusing her she didn't have to take it.

"She came over and hugged me," the witness said, adding "she had to decide what she was going to do. I couldn't."

During cross-examination, McCooeye asked if her granddaughter had told her that Noel had caused the bruise on her arm.

When she said no, he played a portion of an audio recording of an interview she had with a city police officer, where she indicated that her granddaughter had initially said the dog caused the bruise, then said "Tyson did it."

"You forgot about her saying that Tyson did it," McCooeye wondered.

"Yes, I did," she responded.

That's a "pretty important thing she tells you," he suggested.

"Actually I don't remember. I was working, trying to do a job and support people."

She said she did remember one time, when her granddaughter indicated a bruise had been caused by a punch when the pair was fooling around.