Sexual assault complainant faces grilling over statement to police

EDITOR'S NOTE: The following story includes descriptions of sexual assault and violence that some may find upsetting

Tyson Noel's accuser underwent an afternoon of rigorous grilling by the young man's lawyer Wednesday — her second day on the witness stand at his trial on 16 charges.

Eric McCooeye began his cross-examination of the woman, who has testified that that the 22-year-old sexually assaulted and physically attacked her multiple times, with questions about her demeanor before the jury.

He asked the 21-year-old complainant, who often fought back tears when she described what had happened to the Crown on Tuesday and Wednesday morning, about her emotional testimony

She agreed she found testifying upsetting and that she was nervous.

McCooeye then suggested that on another occasion, when she was questioned by a Sault Ste. Marie detective after she went to police, she was "excited" to tell her story.

When the woman disagreed with his assertion, he played two short excerpts from a videotape of the police interview.

She agreed that she was talking to a stranger about intimate details, but denied she wasn't showing as much emotion as when she told jurors about what occurred between the pair in 2014 and 2015.

"I have a nervous giggle. I was not as emotional during the interview, but I was upset and nervous."

McCooeye wondered if she had considered that if she was more emotional at the the trial that it was more likely she would be believed.

"I didn't come here expecting to be as emotional as I was," she replied.

Noel has pleaded not guilty to the charges, including 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 her dog.

A publication ban protects the complainant's identity.

The woman detailed numerous incidents to the eight-woman, four-man jury, ranging from sexual assaults where she alleged Noel raped her after tying her to a bed or penetrated her with a frozen hot dog and a wooden drumstick to his threat to harm the dog with a knife.

She also outlined other attacks, where she said the accused punched in her in the eye, held a knife to her throat, threw her across a room where she hit her head against a portable heater and was knocked unconscious, and assaults that occurred during arguments.

McCooeye also honed in on differences between the evidence the woman gave during a preliminary hearing a year ago and what she told the court this week.

He asked her about another court proceeding that occurred after she alleged that Noel had violated a bail condition by coming too close to her.

When she said that she didn't recall the results of that trial, the lawyer pointed to the preliminary transcript, where she indicated that he had been acquitted.

"I don't member talking about this," the woman told him. "I forgot about it. I don't remember it."

McCooeye suggested that she knew the results and was very upset. She agreed, but then said she doesn't remember being upset.

The defence lawyer questioned her about incidents that she said had occurred in the basement of her parents' home.

She agreed her family didn't trust Noel, whom she had met online, and "watched him like a hawk."

Her parents knew he was there on the night she testified he first sexually assaulted her but never reacted, McCooeye asked.

She replied that she tried to scream when "he was forcing himself on me," but Noel covered her mouth.

McCooeye then referred to her journal, which she put together for investigators outlining the various incidents that had occurred with Noel.

In the journal she wrote that she had ran to the bathroom terrified and hid in the shower after the attack. 

When she testified Tuesday, she said that Noel went to the bathroom after the assault and she curled up on the bed and pretended to be asleep so nothing else would happen.

"Which one was the truth?" McCooeye asked.

"The one I gave during the trial was true," she replied. "The one I wrote was done quickly and I got it mixed up. The next day I'd hid in the bathroom. I got confused."

McCooeye also pointed to inconsistencies between her testimony at the trial and the preliminary inquiry about the incident involving the dog.

She testified that Noel put the knife to her throat, threatening her, and then put the knife to the dog's throat and threatened to kill it.

Referring again to the transcript from the preliminary, McCooeye showed her that she had said he first threatened the dog with the knife and then came after her

The complainant agreed this was an entirely different story than what she said Tuesday, but insisted Noel came after her first.

When the lawyer questioned the difference in her recollection she explained "I had more time to actually think about the situation and what happened."

McCooeye suggested both stories can't be true and asked which one is.

"Both stories when I told them is what I remembered at the time," she told him.

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