Ghomeshi’s accuser exchanged 5000 messages before and after going to police

Ghomeshi has pleaded not guilty to four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking.

Lucy DeCoutere, the Trailer Park Boys actress, who testified last week that Ghomeshi struck and choked her 13 years ago, was friends with the third woman to testify, who gave her testimony Monday.

Actor and Air Force Captain Lucy DeCoutere during a video interview with the Star in regards to her past personal experiences and interactions with CBC host Jian Ghomeshi.

Initially, she said that she and DeCoutere did not discuss the sexual assault allegations, but during cross-examination by Ghomeshi’s lawyer, Marie Henein, she admitted that the two did discuss the case.

Jenny Wright of the St. John’s Status of Women Council says less that 10 percent report sexual assault and the current court proceedings are making it very hard for many victims.

Ghomeshi acknowledged in a 2014 Facebook post that he engaged in rough sex, but said it was consensual.

Heinen said the woman reported the alleged assault to police in December 2014, and the correspondence with DeCoutere continued until September 2015.

With the collapse Monday of the third accuser’s credibility – she might just as well have been wearing a suicide vest, so thoroughly did she blow up – it’s now apparent the case was built upon the self-serving and carefully edited allegations of dishonest complainants, two of whom appear to have been colluding and gleefully anticipating Ghomeshi’s ruination, and raised up on the gossamer wings of unproven allegations in the press and on social media.

She says he approached her from behind, rested his arms on her shoulders, and when asked by someone how they knew each other, Ghomeshi said “We’re engaged”.

While they were kissing, she said she suddenly felt his hands on her shoulders and “his teeth”.

“His hands were around my neck and he was squeezing”, she told the court.

DeCoutere waived her right to a publication ban, while the other two women did not. Then, she said, he put his hand on her mouth “smothering” her.

The complainant said she met Ghomeshi again for dinner at a later date, saying she second-guessed herself. “It didn’t feel safe or sexy”, she told the Crown, adding that she did not consent to the action, and left soon after.

She told police that after their fight at the party, she made a point to keep her distance from Ghomeshi and only interacted with him at public events they were both attending.

“I got out of the auto, slammed the door, told him he was insane, told him to never call me again”, she said.

Now what she’d originally told the police, quite specifically, was that that night, “I took a cab”.

Henein said the complainant also invited the accused to her brother’s stag and doe.

She came forward to police, she said, because she realized what happened to her was not an isolated incident and “recognized a pattern…there was familiarity in some of the things I was hearing”.

“You also said: I want so badly for the piece of s– to pay for what he’s done”, said Heinen.

Henein said the woman had also indicated that she had been following coverage of the trial, contrary to a court order, and called the new developments “disturbing”.