TORONTO – The victim in an alleged gang sexual assault at a former Little Italy bar returned to the witness stand on Monday, testifying that following that winter night, she had nightmares that would end in her waking up screaming.
“It felt like a movie, like a dream, it was coming back in bits and pieces,” she told a Toronto courtroom during her second day of testifying.
The fashion photographer was 24 years old when she was visiting Toronto in December 2016 for a work event. At the time, she had gone to the College Street Bar to meet a friend who worked there, the court heard on Thursday. Her identity is protected under a publication ban.
Gavin MacMillan, an owner at the former bar, and DeJesus Carrasco, a manager, have both pleaded not guilty to gang sexual assault, administering a stupefying drug and forcible confinement.
After the woman’s friend left the bar, and it closed for the night, the Crown alleges the two men sexually assaulted her for at least six hours in various rooms of the establishment.
Eight security cameras inside the bar captured the events being discussed throughout the trial.
Following the jury watching hours of captured video, the woman is testifying via CCT camera from another room inside the courthouse.
During her testimony on Monday, she said she was “terrified” to speak with officials. She said she was worried about her family finding out and was concerned about the whole process of having to testify at a trial.
She told the Crown her body was full of bruises and marks on her arms from “being held.”
She could not get off her couch for a month after that night, she testified.
The trial is set to continue on Monday afternoon as the defence lawyers are expected to begin their cross examination.
