Ghomeshi’s Accusers Exchanged 5000 Messages Before and After Going to Police

DeCoutere faced tough cross-examination about her relationship with the 48-year-old former CBC Radio host, and the trial comes as the military struggles to get more alleged victims of sexual misconduct to step forward through a newly established crisis centre.

But during cross-examination, Ghomeshi’s lawyer said that the woman – the third complainant to accuse him of sexual assault – exchanged 5,000 messages with “Trailer Park Boys” actress Lucy DeCoutere, who testified last week that the former radio host choked her and repeatedly slapped her while they were kissing in his bedroom.

DeCoutere had sent several emails to Ghomeshi and one after the alleged assault.

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.

DeCoutere held firm throughout her testimony, saying her subsequent interactions with Ghomeshi don’t mean the alleged attack never took place.

The police had asked, of course, if she and Ghomeshi had ever had sexual discussions, and she said no. She also said that while she was friends with another complainant, they never discussed the specifics of their allegations.

The woman says she went out with him for dinner one night during the festival, and later met him in an isolated part of a nearby park where she says they made out. “You think… he is being really nice… maybe I misread it. Maybe if I give him another a chance, maybe it will be different”, she said.

The defence has proclaimed they are ready to proceed to closing arguments, meaning Ghomeshi will not be testifying.

The witness, however, could not travel to Toronto to testify in person due to stormy weather in her hometown, so both the Crown and the defence agreed to present the judge with a transcript of the woman’s statement to police as well as Facebook messages she exchanged with DeCoutere.

DeCoutere says in the message: “Guess what, the Toronto cops want your number”.

“I did not lie”, the woman responded, noting that she had given her interviews in the first tumultuous week of revelations.

The trial first heard that the woman didn’t contact Ghomeshi after the alleged assaults, save for perhaps writing him an angry email, which she said she may or may not have sent.

DeCoutere waived her right to a publication ban, while the other two women did not.

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”.

The three complainants in the case have already testified over five days.