Woman describes multiple sexual assaults to jurors

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story describes details of sexual assault and violence

Often fighting back tears, a young woman detailed to jurors Tuesday the sexual and physical abuse she says she suffered at the hands of Tyson Noel.

The complainant — the first of three witnesses to be called by the Crown to testify at the trial — outlined various incidents that she indicated occurred in 2014 and 2015. 

Noel, 22, has pleaded not guilty to 16 charges, including assault causing bodily harm, five counts of sexual assault, six assault-related counts, three counts of forcible confinement and a single count of threatening to kill the woman's dog.

A publication ban prohibits reporting the identity of the complainant.

The woman, who spent the day on the witness stand, testified via camera from outside the courtroom

Superior Court Justice Edward Gareau explained to the eight-woman, four-man jury that the law permits this in such cases to make it comfortable for a witness to give evidence.

The use of a television monitor has nothing to do with guilt or innocence, and nothing to do with how much they should believe evidence or rely on it, he told them.

The slight woman, who indicated she weighed 100 pounds at the time of the alleged offences, described seven incidents involving what she estimated to be the then six-foot, 200-pound accused.

The first occurred in June 2014, when Noel, who was "acting so weird" and "talking creepy," sexually assaulted her, she told the court.

She told assistant Crown Heidi Mitchell that he forced himself on her, after pinning her down on a bed and prying her legs open.

"I was trying to fight him off," she said. "When I tried to scream he covered my mouth."

The woman said she didn't consent to Noel's actions, and that he made her feel awful and scared. "I was petrified."

The following day, when Noel asked why she was upset with him, he said he didn't remember any of it.

"He tried to tell me he had a personality disorder, that he had for a long time," the complainant testified.

Noel kept apologizing, saying it would never happen again, she said, adding she never told anyone what had occurred because she thought it would be the last time it would happen.

A couple of weeks later, she said, Noel sexually assaulted her with a hot dog, after telling her about a video he had watched.

"He kept wanting to test it out (what he had seen) and I said no," she told the court.

"I was in shock." 

She described another incident in November 2014 when an angry Noel was punching walls and kicking things during an argument. As she tried to dodge his blows, he struck her in the corner of her right eye with a closed fist.

"I started screaming. He'd never hit me in the face before," the woman said. "He apologized, asked me not to tell anyone, said he was sorry."

The witness talked about Noel putting a kitchen knife, with a five- to six-inch blade, to her throat during an argument a couple of months later.

"I was barely breathing and was crying."

She said he had backed her into a corner, and hovered over with the knife as she cowered on the floor.

Her dog was in the bedroom, barking and "going crazy" and she told him if she didn't get him, the neighbour would call police.

Noel let her up, suggesting he should just kill the dog, and she went to the bedroom to get the animal, who wanted to go outside.

After she let the dog out of its kennel, she turned around to see Noel, standing there with the knife to its throat.

"He said he was going to kill the dog and I kept trying to calm him down. I didn't want him to hurt the dog," she told the court. "I kept begging him not to hurt the dog."

The woman said he eventually put the knife down and went into the bedroom with the puppy.

After closing the door, Noel leaned against it so she couldn't get in, and kept saying he was going to kill the dog and himself.

She said when she eventually was able to get into the bedroom, he was lying on bed with a black electrical cord around his neck.

He wasn't moving, but woke up when she removed the cord and indicated he didn't remember anything.

In March or early April, an upset and angry Noel came after her again with the same knife, she stated.

As she began to back up away from him, he started talking about the Joker,  the character in a Batman movie whose father carved smile marks on his face because he didn't smile enough.

"He put the knife in my mouth, (then) started scraping it along the outside of my cheek, then down my neck, my arms and legs," she testified.

"He said I didn't smile enough and maybe he should have put a smile on my face."

The woman told Mitchell she was terrified and honestly thought he  was going to cut her face.

"I was crying a lot, begging for him to stop, to put the knife down. I tried to reason with him, apologize, anything to get him to put the knife down."

She detailed another incident, where Noel picked her up by the throat, lifted her off the floor and pressed her against the wall "as if I was a rag doll."

"I thought he was going to kill me to be honest. It was terrifying." 

The woman said as she tried to fight him, to get him to let her go, he tossed her three or four feet into the living room, where she struck the back of her head on a portable heater.

"I blacked out on the living room floor," she said. "When I came to he was in the bedroom playing video games."

She said she was afraid that she had a concussion, and was going to call her parents to take her to the hospital, but Noel took her phone away and kept it all night.

"He said I was fine, gave me a Tylenol, told me to lie down and I'd be all right."

Quite a few months later, in October, Noel came to her parents home, where he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her to the basement to talk to her.

The woman said he tried to kiss her and she turned her face away.

Noel followed her as she went towards the bathroom, pinned her against the door of the laundry room, and "grabbed me by my chest and my butt."

She testified that when she told him to stop, he grabbed her cell phone from a counter "shoved it down the front of his pants and said the only way I would get it back was to have sex with him."

Telling him that would never happen, she said she walked away to check on her dog, which was in her bedroom.

Noel came into the room, closed the door and pushed her on to the bed.

She said as she kicked at him, he grabbed her ankles, pulled her down to end of the bed and started taking her pants off.

"He raped me," she told jurors.