WARNING: This article contains graphic details and strong language heard in court that may not be suitable for some readers.
Facing an at-times withering cross-examination on Tuesday, Reese Shephard held firm, adopting a defiant tone on occasion as he completed his testimony in his sex-assault trial relating to an incident that took place over the 2019 Victoria Day long weekend in Wasaga Beach.
The 24-year-old Orangeville man has pleaded not guilty.
Shephard was 18 at the time, the alleged victim, who will be recalled on Jan. 24, was 17. Her identity is protected by a publication ban.
“Once again, you’re not telling the truth to this court,” Shephard shot back from the stand and toward Crown attorney Dennis Chronopoulos.
Chronopoulos had been questioning Shephard about what he told his friend immediately after the incident that could suggest he was harbouring regrets for his actions.
Chronopoulos was trying to undermine Shephard’s contention that he engaged in a brief but consensual sexual encounter with the alleged victim in the wee hours of May 19, 2019.
Shephard claims he encountered the alleged victim just past 3 a.m., and only after he discovered her asleep in a spare bedroom that he had hoped to sleep in himself with two other friends who had made the trip up from Orangeville for the house party in Wasaga Beach.
According to Shephard, he sought out his friends, returned to the room with them in tow after he found her asleep. Playful banter gave way to flirting, court heard, which led to heavy petting and eventually full-on sex in three separate positions.
Shephard told court the teen made him stop before completion because she said she was sore, but also annoyed that his friends kept coming back into the room. Shephard said she then told him to leave the room.
The accused said he reacted by saying “what the f--k” at the shock that the previously pleasurable encounter took such a sudden turn, but that those comments were nothing more.
“That's how I would have worded it in any scenario,” was Shephard’s response when Chronopoulos suggested his reaction was evidence of guilt.
Chronopoulos continued that tact.
“That is so wrong,” Shephard responded to one line of questioning from the Crown.
“Not at all possible,” was Shephard’s response to another similar query.
“No, sir, I went in (the room) twice,” was Shephard’s response when Chronopoulos suggested he made just a single visit to the bedroom and stayed there to take advantage of the teen.
Confronted one final time that he forced himself on the alleged victim, taking advantage of her diminished, sleepy state and her belief he was another man with whom she had been with earlier that night, Shephard was again clear: “I didn’t initiate anything,” he said from the stand.
With Shephard excused, the defence rested its case.
Defence lawyer Richard Allman had begun his evidence by calling three separate character witnesses, including an OPP officer, who all said they have known Shephard for most of his life.
As expected, the trio all vouched for his good character, but Chronopoulos countered by pointing out that two of those witnesses, including the police officer, couldn’t possibly know much about what Shephard was up to around the time of the incident.
The complainant will return via video link on Jan. 24 to address a narrow range of evidence that was triggered by Shephard’s testimony. She testified by video over two days in December and has not attended the proceedings in person.
Final submissions will follow soon after, at which time the case will be in the hands of Superior Court Madame Justice Vanessa Christie to render judgment.
