‘Never said yes directly:’ Accused in rape retrial says sex was consensual

“But she never said yes?”

“No,” he said.

“She never said yes directly.”

He re-enacted in intricate detail how he and the complainant, who was 19 at the time, first had sex on the bathroom counter of a Calgary home in December 2011 and then moved to the shower.

Wagar perched on the edge of the witness box and then crouched down, leaning back against it, as he gave a running narrative of what he said happened. He also explained how he lathered the woman up in the shower.

Judge Jerry LeGrandeur cautioned Wagar a couple of times saying he didn’t need to go into quite so much detail.

During the original trial, Robin Camp, who was then a provincial court judge, asked the complainant why she couldn’t just keep her knees together and told her “pain and sex sometimes go together.”

Camp acquitted Wagar in 2014, but the verdict was overturned on appeal and a new trial was ordered. It is being heard by judge alone.

A Canadian Judicial Council panel is currently mulling over whether to recommend Camp, who is now a Federal Court judge, be removed from the bench.

Wagar has insisted during the retrial that the sex was consensual. He testified the two had been smoking pot in the bathroom before it happened and he decided to “go for it.”

“She didn’t shy away from me in any shape or form,” he said. “She said she liked me.”

Wagar said he would never force a woman against her will.

“If she would have made any sort of objection, I can tell you beyond a shadow of a doubt, swear on the Bible, I am a Christian. My mother put it in my mind since I was a kid that if a woman says no, it means no.

“If she would have said no, I would have stopped.”

The case is scheduled to resume Thursday. Defence lawyer Pat Flynn told the court he still has not been able to contact another witness who attended the original party.

LeGrandeur said it’s likely closing arguments will occur on Monday or Tuesday.

— Follow @BillGraveland on Twitter

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

‘Never said yes directly:’ Accused in rape retrial says sex was consensual

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