Ex-Woodstock, Ont., mayor found guilty of assault, sexual assault in London court
CBC
WARNING: This story contains graphic details of alleged sexual assaults.
A London, Ont., judge has found former Woodstock mayor Trevor Birtch guilty of assault and sexual assault in relation to charges stemming from 2021 by a woman with whom he was in a tumultuous relationship and began dating in April 2020.
Birtch, 49, who had pleaded not guilty to two counts of sexual assault and one count of assault, was found guilty of two out of the three charges. He was first charged in 2022.
In his nearly two-and-half-hour judgment, Superior Court Justice Michael Carnegie thoroughly assessed testimonies given by the complainant — who can't be identified due to a publication ban — Birtch, and Birtch's 18-year-old son, Ben, during the four-day trial in May.
Carnegie said Birtch's evidence failed to cast a reasonable doubt on the woman's allegations, and was intentionally misleading to make her appear like a jealous and irrational person.
"I found Mr. Birtch's evidentiary agenda clouded any prospect of sincerity and his inconsistency corroded my ability to accept his evidence at all. I am concerned that on multiple occasions he was being deceptive," Carnegie said.
Charges against Birtch stem from three incidents:
In his testimony, Birtch described the woman as clingy and irrational, and said she refused to let him break up with her and would threaten him whenever he tried to call it off.
However, the woman said Birtch had a "Jekyll and Hyde" personality, suddenly turning from friendly and compassionate to angry and hostile on two occasions after she declined his request to perform oral sex.
In the June 2021 incident, Birtch alleged the woman was intoxicated and got upset and started throwing things at him when she saw him receive phone calls from another woman. Carnegie said he rejected Birtch's evidence about how events unfolded on that day.
The woman said she suffered scrapes and bruises to her elbows, biceps, and right knee after Birtch pushed her from his car onto a gravel road outside her apartment. She took photos and sent them to Birtch, which were later submitted as evidence but weren't forensically analyzed.
Carnegie pointed that despite the lack of forensic evidence, the woman "was subjected to intentional, unwanted physical force" by Birtch.
In his guilty verdict for sexual assault, Carnegie said the woman's sexual integrity was violated on Feb. 14, 2021, when the couple at the spa for Valentine's Day.
Carnegie said he's satisfied with her evidence that Birtch grabbed her head and pushed it down to his crotch without her consent. Birtch alleged the woman was intoxicated and became violent and pushed him off the bed when he rejected her sexual advances.
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WARNING: This article describes allegations of sexual assault.