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| Jian Ghomeshi |
Bill Tieleman’s 24 Hours Vancouver / The Tyee column
Tuesday February 9, 2016
By Bill Tieleman
"There's
a whole community of women who feel violated by the publicity around this trial
who have had their own experiences of sexual assault."
- Amanda Dale,
director of the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic for women survivors of
violence
The trial of
former CBC Radio host Jian Ghomeshi has been shocking -- not only for the
allegations of sexual violence, but because two women testifying against him
subsequently had flirtatious, friendly contact with Ghomeshi afterwards.
Why would
any woman who was allegedly slapped in the face, punched, rammed against a wall
or choked have anything more to do with any man who assaulted her?
Sadly and
stunningly, the evidence in a Toronto courtroom, from actress Lucy DeCoutere
and another witness who cannot be named due to a publication ban, is not
unusual.
Those who
work with victims of violence know all too well that women who have been
assaulted have complex and challenging emotions that can lead to them
continuing a relationship with their abuser.
As DeCoutere
testified
in court last week after being confronted by the defence team with friendly and
even sexually suggestive emails she sent Ghomeshi: "That still doesn't change
the fact that Mr. Ghomeshi assaulted me. Women can be assaulted by someone and
still have positive feelings for them afterwards, that's why there are
emotionally abusive relationships that continue."
That
contradiction is something I learned over several years as a volunteer
fundraiser with a Toronto shelter for battered women, where I talked to many
counsellors and also victims who escaped abusive situations.
Unfortunately,
it can take a long time and multiple attempts for some women to leave a violent
relationship.
In many
cases there are significant financial, family history, emotional, health and
shelter issues that deter women from ending it.
"People
wind up blaming themselves for the abusive behaviour of their partners. They
convince themselves if they approach the person differently, maybe they won't
be abused," says
Craig Malkin, a Harvard Medical School clinical psychologist.
Research
also shows abusers are attracted to those who have self-esteem issues or were
victims of abuse as children, or were raised by parents who were in abusive
relationships.
"They
don't have a model for anything different. They accept it as the price of
intimacy," says Malkin.
It's a
strong reminder that the challenges of a victim can be complex.
Legal
system requires bravery
Now, in the
Ghomeshi case, we also see how difficult it can be for someone to bring
allegations of abuse to court, especially under such fierce cross-examination.
That's why
all owe a debt of gratitude to Lucy DeCoutere for having the courage to step
forward with her allegations, be identified and defend herself in public.
Actress
Ellen Page put it well
on Twitter Saturday: "My friend Lucy DeCoutere is one of the most
incredible people I know -- deeply kind, generous and brave."
DeCoutere's
lawyer, Gillian Hnatiw, was compelled to remind the media and public about the
important point behind many such cases.
"Violence
against women is not about the behaviour of the women. It is not about how they
cope with an assault or the details they commit to memory in the
aftermath," Hnatiw said
outside court. "This is, and remains, a trial about Mr. Ghomeshi's
conduct. What Lucy did and how she felt in the aftermath of the assault does
not change that essential fact."
We have to
hope that the Ghomeshi case -- which continues with a third woman witness this
week -- will not negatively impact the willingness of other women to use the
courts to hear their stories because they fear devastating courtroom
cross-examination by the defence.
And that's
very important for British Columbia women.
In 2014,
Statistics Canada found
that 9,053 women in B.C. reported intimate partner violence to police and
across the country there were 69,848 cases.
But
University of British Columbia law professor Janine Benedet says
sexual assaults are only reported to police about 15 per cent of the time,
meaning the actual numbers of women attacked are far worse.
With the
right support, survivors of sexual assault can "do just fine" holding
their abusers accountable in the justice system, Benedet says.
But the
legal system requires their bravery, says the Schlifer clinic's executive
director Amanda Dale.
"The
threshold is guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and the only way to establish
that doubt, in the minds (of defence lawyers), is to attack the credibility of
the witness," Dale says.
Canada needs
a better way for women who have been assaulted to bring their attackers to
justice -- without being re-victimized in court.
UPDATE – Jian Ghomeshi was found not
guilty on all counts by Justice William Horkins, who delivered a scathing decision
that reads like it was the women witnesses who were on trial, not Ghomeshi.
"The harsh reality is
that once a witness has been shown to be deceptive and manipulative in giving
their evidence, that witness can no longer expect the court to consider them to
be a trusted source of the truth," Horkins said.
"I am forced to
conclude that it is impossible for the court to have sufficient faith in the
reliability or sincerity of these complainants. Put simply, the volume of
serious deficiencies in the evidence leaves the court with a reasonable doubt."
News of the acquittal
angered women’s groups and sparked
protests in several locations.
Ghomeshi
faces another charge of sexual assault which goes to trial in June.
.
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