The CBC host who famously told Billy Bob Thornton that Canadians have plenty of 'gravy' has been charged with choking and sexual assault, fingerprinted and ordered to live with his mother while his case proceeds through court.
On Wednesday morning, at the time when Jian Ghomeshi would normally be wheeling his black Mini Cooper into work to host the popular Q radio show, he was instead a passenger in a dark grey mini-van, driven with his criminal defence lawyers to a west-end police division where he surrendered to detectives from the Toronto sexual assault squad.
The charges against him: four counts of sexual assault; one count of overcome resistance (choking). The charges relate to three women who came forward to police in the past month. All alleged offences are from the years 2002-2003. Ghomeshi left the police division in handcuffs in the back of a police cruiser for the drive to court. Following his afternoon appearance in court, Ghomeshi posted $100,000 bail, surrendered his passport and was told he must live with his mother in Thornhill.
Crowded by a crush of reporters outside court, Ghomeshi said nothing. His lawyer, Marie Henein, said in a statement: 'Mr. Ghomeshi will be pleading not guilty. We will defend and respond to these allegations fully and directly in a court of law.'
Ghomeshi, who has not been seen in public for a month, spent at least part of the last month at a friend's cottage near Minden. He was driven away from court Wednesday by a man from a private security company that employs former police officers. The firm is working for his lawyer, a spokesman for the security company said.
In a small Canadian city, the woman who was instrumental in bringing forward the story of allegations involving Ghomeshi said Wednesday she was pleased the case is now in court.
'I'm thrilled and glad he is going to be in the hands of the justice system,' said the woman.
The Star has agreed not to identify her. She has never spoken to police and said she has no intention of doing so. She said the women who came forward to police are 'brave to do so.'
In a brief statement after Ghomeshi's arrest, actor Lucy DeCoutere, one of the three women who went to police, noted the profound effect the controversy has had in Canada.
'The past month has seen a major shift in the conversation about violence against women. It has been an overwhelming and painful time for many people, including myself, but also very inspiring. I hope that victims' voices continue to be heard and that this is the start of a change that is so desperately needed.'
DeCouture, whose identity would normally be banned because it is a sexual assault case, asked that the ban on her identity be waived. She came forward and told her story on the record shortly after Ghomeshi's now infamous Facebook posting in which he said he was part of a BDSM community that condoned rough sex.
The charges laid by police allege Ghomeshi sexually assaulted DeCouture on June 27, 2003, and also attempted to 'choke' her.
In a previous story, the Star reported that DeCouture, an actor on Trailer Park Boys and an Air Force captain, recalled an incident in 2003 in which she alleges Ghomeshi, without warning or consent, choked her to the point she could not breathe and then slapped her hard three times on the side of her head.
'He did not ask if I was into it. It was never a question. It was shocking to me. The men I have spent time with are loving people,' said DeCoutere, a training officer in New Brunswick with the Royal Canadian Air Force.
Another woman who came forward to the Star and the police, and whose name is subject to the ban, told the Star she is pleased.
'I am relieved,' she said, commenting on how in the days since she talked to police she was worried about what would happen. The 'dark cloud of uncertainty' she has been living under has lifted, she said.
The woman said she now believes the matter will one day be discussed in open court. In her case, Ghomeshi is charged with two counts of sexual assault, one in December 2002, the other in January 2003.
A third woman is listed as a victim of alleged sexual assault by Ghomeshi on May 25, 2003.
All the alleged assaults took place in Toronto.
Each sexual assault charge could lead to a maximum jail sentence of 10 years. The charge of 'overcoming resistance' comes with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
Ghomeshi, a former musician, began his media career on >play, a CBC television show in the early 2000s. This is when the alleged sexual assaults of the three women who have come forward to police are said to have occurred. The Star has published stories dealing with allegations from nine women, some of them alleging abuse (hitting, choking) as recently as 2013.
Wednesday marked the one-month period from the day, Sunday, Oct. 26, when Ghomeshi was fired from the CBC. That firing came after he showed a video to CBC bosses of a former girlfriend with significant bruising caused by a broken rib. Ghomeshi showed this as an example of how, in his view, consensual rough sex could cause bruising.
Ghomeshi followed his firing with a Facebook posting telling his side of the story and hinting to his followers that in the days to come others would 'pile on' in an attempt to show a 'pattern of behaviour.'
The Star that evening published a story detailing allegations from four women. Five more came forward in the next few days.
As one after another of Ghomeshi's team dropped away (his crisis communication company, publicist, agent and a singer he managed) the big question was: Where was Jian Ghomeshi.
The Star discovered he was booked to stay at the Sunset Marquis hotel in Los Angeles in the days after he was fired. It does not appear that he checked in. The booking was until Tuesday, Oct. 28, and was cancelled.
What is known is that on the Sunday night of the Facebook posting, Ghomeshi made a telephone call that led to him staying at a Minden cottage. Ghomeshi contacted an old friend, Toronto entertainment mogul Jeffrey Latimer who represents the Tenors, among other acts.
'(Ghomeshi) called me and said he needed a place to get away for a few days,' said Latimer, who has had clients interviewed by Ghomeshi on Q over the years. Ghomeshi was calling for a favour, Latimer said.
'He explained to me that this is a personal situation and that he needed a break and so I said, 'I have a cottage.' ' Latimer said he did what he thought was the 'right thing' to do when someone needs help.
He told him the address of the cottage on Gull Lake near Minden and told him how to get into the property. Latimer was unclear on how long Ghomeshi stayed. A source told the Star that Ghomeshi moved at some point to another cottage in Ontario. He was not seen in public until his arrest.
Tuesday, the day before he was charged, was filled with signals that something was up. Ghomeshi's Facebook account was deleted. His Twitter account was previously scrubbed. The Star learned that Ghomeshi had dropped his $55-million civil lawsuit against the CBC and agreed to pay the national broadcaster $18,000 in legal costs.
A source close to the investigation told the Star that Ghomeshi was told by the police that he would be charged. An arrangement was made, at his lawyer's urging, for Ghomeshi (who lives in the Upper Beach area in Toronto's east end) to surrender to detectives at a west-end Toronto police division at 8:30 a.m. Ghomeshi and his lawyers went to the division, Ghomeshi was charged, fingerprinted and then driven by a marked police cruiser to court for a noon- hour hearing.
Ghomeshi, who has interviewed hundreds of celebrities and politicians, including Al Gore, Joni Mitchell and Neil Young over the years, was on the other side of the microphone when a media horde descended on court.
He normally sports a light beard, but in court was freshly shaven. He wore a black blazer and white shirt. His eyes were half lidded as he silently watched the Crown attorney read off the allegations against him.
Several family members, including his mother, sat in the front row of the small College Park courtroom.
The evidence presented in the bail hearing is covered by a publication ban. The Star can report the amount set for bail ($100,000) and the conditions.
Ghomeshi was released on a surety of $100,000 and ordered to remain in the province of Ontario. He must reside with his mother and 'be amenable to the routine and discipline of that home.'
He must surrender his passport to police, cannot possess weapons of any kind and is prohibited from contacting any of the alleged victims.
More than a hundred members of the media, including photographers, camera operators and reporters, gathered at the entrance to court to hear a statement, which his lawyer read from the staircase.
His lawyer, Henein, said Ghomeshi would not speak about the case outside of the court. Nor would she. 'It is not our practice to litigate matters in the media. . . What we have to say we will say in court.'
Ghomeshi began his career on Q in 2007 but his real rise to fame came when he interviewed movie actor Billy Bob Thornton in 2009. In a testy exchange (Thornton had apparently asked to be questioned only about his musical career, not his popular movies) the Oscar-winning star of Sling Blade told Ghomeshi that Canadians are 'mashed potatoes with no gravy. In what became a viral sensation, Ghomeshi paused and then responded in defence of Canada: 'Oh, we've got some gravy up here.'
A several storey-high poster of Ghomeshi was eventually glued to the wall in the CBC headquarters and all of a sudden Ghomeshi seemed to be everywhere, hosting one high-profile event in Canada after another. Q was syndicated south of the border on National Public Radio, a huge boon to the CBC.
In one of his last interviews as Q host, Ghomeshi talked to Barbra Streisand in a New York hotel late in the summer. Streisand told Ghomeshi she often feels 'vulnerable.'
'I don't like anyone saying things about me that are not true. And that's all over the place,' Streisand told Ghomeshi, sitting across from her in the room. 'It comes with the territory,' Ghomeshi shot back.
With files from Jacques Gallant Kevin Donovan can be reached at (416) 312-3503 or kdonovan@thestar.ca Entities 0 Name: Ghomeshi Count: 39 1 Name: CBC Count: 7 2 Name: Star Count: 6 3 Name: Toronto Count: 5 4 Name: Latimer Count: 4 5 Name: Canada Count: 3 6 Name: Minden Count: 3 7 Name: Billy Bob Thornton Count: 2 8 Name: Ontario Count: 2 9 Name: Jian Ghomeshi Count: 2 10 Name: Jeffrey Latimer Count: 1 11 Name: Gull Lake Count: 1 12 Name: Air Force Count: 1 13 Name: Thornton Count: 1 14 Name: Neil Young Count: 1 15 Name: Upper Beach Count: 1 16 Name: Los Angeles Count: 1 17 Name: Royal Canadian Air Force Count: 1 18 Name: Henein Count: 1 19 Name: Joni Mitchell Count: 1 20 Name: Streisand Count: 1 21 Name: Marie Henein Count: 1 22 Name: Lucy DeCoutere Count: 1 23 Name: New Brunswick Count: 1 24 Name: Al Gore Count: 1 25 Name: Kevin Donovan Count: 1 26 Name: Mini Cooper Count: 1 27 Name: Trailer Park Boys Count: 1 28 Name: New York Count: 1 29 Name: National Public Radio Count: 1 30 Name: Thornhill Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/1xG3o0w Title: Jian Ghomeshi charged with sexual assault Description: Former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi has been charged with four counts of sexual assault, Toronto police said Wednesday. The former CBC radio host was charged on Wednesday after surrendering to police. Mr. Ghomeshi is scheduled to appear in court on Wednesday afternoon.
