A 19-year-old pregnant teenager, jailed because officials feared she wouldn't testify at her boyfriend's domestic assault trial, has been released from custody on bail.
Noellee Mowatt was released late Friday afternoon after she gave her testimony in a Toronto courtroom.
"I'm really happy so that I can go and call my mom and speak to my daughter because they weren't aware that I was arrested, so I'm really happy that I got out today," Mowatt told reporters.
When asked how her time in jail was, she replied, "It hasn't fun."
After taking the stand, Mowatt said she lied about being abused. She said marks that were on her arms and face after she called 911 were bug bites and carpet burns.
She called police on Dec. 28 after an argument with her boyfriend, Christopher Harbin. The dispute occurred when Mowatt asked Harbin to get her some food and he refused. She said he kicked her out of the apartment.
Mowatt later called police frantically from a pay phone, alleging that her boyfriend punched her several times in the face and she had bruises all over her face, court heard.
However, in court Friday, the woman said she lied during that call and that Harbin never attacked her with a knife, as she had earlier alleged.
Harbin is facing eight charges, including four counts of assault and one count each of forcible confinement and assault with a weapon.
When asked on Friday about police photos that show marks on Mowatt's arms and face, she said they were the result of bug bites, falling on the carpet at home and sleeping on something hard.
Mowatt, who is not charged with anything and has no criminal record, had been held in a Toronto-area jail for more than a week. A judge issued an order for her arrest over fears she wouldn't testify against Harbin at his trial.
In media interviews from jail, Mowatt said she didn't understand why she was behind bars. She said she was "scared, terrified and angry'' and vowed never again call police for help. She expects her case will deter abused women from calling authorities.
Her lawyer, Lydia Riva, echoed the statement.
"This makes absolutely no sense at all," Riva told reporters. "This will only discourage women in the future from coming forward with complaints of domestic violence."
Court also heard she is due to give birth in mid-May, not next week as she had suggested in media interviews.
Mowatt, who came to Canada from Jamaica in 2006 and worked part-time at a McDonald's restaurant while going to school, hopes her boyfriend is acquitted because she wants to start a life together with him.
Riva called the situation unacceptable and added her client should have been given bail.
Riva said Mowatt never received a subpoena before she was detained by police, but conceded the Criminal Code allows warrants to be issued when there's evidence that someone is evading a subpoena or that they might not respond to a subpoena if it were to be issued.
Meanwhile, Harbin's assault trial resumes on April 22.
With a report from CTV Toronto's Chris Eby and files from The Canadian Press