The sexual assault trial of a former Windsor Spitfire is starting over.
Ben Johnson has hired a new lawyer.
Even though the case went to trial last year and dates back to January of 2013. It now begins again.
The trial, based on an alleged incident in 2013, originally started in June of 2014.
The trial continued in September, but was put over to now because Johnson's original lawyer, Pat Ducharme was booked up.
The trial was to resume Tuesday, where testimony left off. But Johnson's new lawyer Evan Weber believes some evidence was heard that shouldn't have been, so he's requested the trial start over from scratch.
Warning: some the content in this story may be offensive to some readers.
Johnson, now 21, is facing a charge of sexual assault for an alleged incident at the Krooked Kilt on Jan. 13 of 2013.
According to testimony heard in court Tuesday, the alleged victim says she and a girlfriend went into a stall together in the men’s bathroom because the women’s was occupied.
The alleged victim says after her girlfriend left the stall, a man entered the stall saying “Move or I'll pee on you.”
The woman says the suspect then pulled his pants down and told the victim to touch his penis. The woman says she refused, but then the man took her right hand and forced her to touch his flaccid penis. The alleged victim says she then withdrew her hand and kneed the man in the groin and got out of the stall.
The alleged victim says she found her brother, who was working at the bar that night and he identified the suspect as Ben Johnson, who at the time was a member of the Spitfires.
The alleged victim only came forward when another sexual assault charge was laid against Johnson.
On March 18, 2013, Johnson was charged with a separate count of sexual assault, for an unrelated alleged incident in the bathroom of Mynt Nightclub. The alleged incident happened the day before.
That’s the same day the alleged victim from the Krooked Kilt incident went to police.
At that time, the victim said she was assaulted only three weeks earlier, putting the alleged assault at Krooked Kilt in late February. But on the witness stand, the woman admitted she gave it more thought and she and her girlfriend went to social media to pinpoint the correct date.
They used photos posted on Instagram to determine the Krooked Kilt assault allegedly happened on Jan. 13, 2013.
Weber said to the woman “There's a lot of inaccuracies in what you told police.”
The woman answered “Is that a question?”
Weber also pointed out in the woman's statement to police, she told them she went into the Krooked Kilt bathroom stall alone. But Tuesday she testified she and girlfriend went into the stall together, before she was allegedly assaulted.
The trial will resume Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. with continuation of the cross examination of the complainant.
A publication ban prevents the media from reporting any details that could identify her.
