Testimony wraps on first week of Toronto city councillors sexual assault trial [Video]

After three days of testimony, the first witness in the sexual assault case of longtime Toronto politician Michael Thompson finished a lengthy cross-examination in which she said the Scarbourgh councillor heavily encouraged alcohol consumption and made her increasingly uncomfortable.

Thompson, 64, was charged with two counts of sexual assault in September of 2022, following a long weekend cottage getaway in Muskoka. The city councillor, who was re-elected about a month after the charges became public, has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty.

On Monday, Crown attorney Mareike Newhouse laid out the case against Thompson in an Ontario Court of Justice in Bracebridge. Allegations included that he performed a massage that was sexual in nature on one woman and that he forced himself on a second woman.

During Newhouse’s overview, she said the second complainant was severely intoxicated and had gaps in her memory, but clearly remembers telling Thompson she …