Murray MacDonald appeared calm when testifying in his own defence at his sexual assault trial taking place at the London Courthouse Wednesday. The 69-year-old retired teacher and principal said the female complainant who is now in her mid-50s was in his grade 13 biology class and a member of the senior swim team that he coached during the 1985-86 school year at Central Secondary School in downtown London. The court has heard that the student was 16 at the time she used fake ID to get into The Bavarian, a one-time bar located at Cherryhill Village Mall. MacDonald said he ran into her one night in the summer of 1986 saying, “She had a drink when I saw her there, so I assumed she was of age.” He testified that she told him she was transferring to another high school and moving out of her parent’s home. MacDonald said at the end of the night, “I gave her a ride home when we left the bar...it was dark.” When they got to her parent’s apartment building which was nearby he said, “We thought it was going to be the last time we were going to see each other so we gave each other a hug...it lasted 15 seconds.” Then he said they started kissing and the female complainant was the one who initiated a sexual act, “At that point I was feeling very anxious, embarrassed and ashamed with the possibility of anyone seeing this.” Then he told the court. “I said, ‘we can’t do this.’” He said he pushed her away and left, “I never saw her or talked to her again after that night.” When she testified earlier this week the female pointed the finger at the accused as the one who wanted sexual contact on the night in question and said the alleged incident changed the trajectory of her life. Asked by his defence lawyer Lakin Afolabi if he ever put his hands down her pants or touched her or any other students inappropriately, MacDonald repeated several times, “No, I did not.” At the beginning of the trial MacDonald plead not guilty to a single count of sexual assault. Later, MacDonald was cross-examined by Crown Attorney Jeremy Carnegie and he maintained his version of events. Carnegie asked the accused, “I’m going to suggest to you, you didn’t believe she was 19 years old?” MacDonald responded, “I certainly did.” He added, “It was not my intention to engage in some sort of sexual activity.” The Crown again asked, “I’m going to suggest you’ve invented this version of events?” MacDonald responded, “No.” At the beginning of the day the jury was dismissed when the defence asked to be tried by judge alone. Justice Kelly Gorman granted the request and now that all of the evidence is in, she is expected to hear closing arguments from the Crown and the defence on Thursday.
