Trevor Birtch Trial Daily Recap - May 2024

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LONDON - It was a long day at the London Courthouse as the trial for Trevor Birtch got underway.

Birtch is a former Mayor of Woodstock, who was charged with one count of assault and two counts of sexual assault in February 2022.

Below is an account of what took place in the courtroom each day.

Verdict (August 8th)

Trevor Birtch has been found guilty of the assault from July 2021, guilty of the sexual assault from February 2021, and not guilty of the alleged sexual assault from December 2021.

You can read the full breakdown of the verdict online here.

DAY 4 (May 30th) - Closing Remarks, Judge Deliberation, Verdict on the Three Counts

The trial entered what was thought to be the final day, as the Defense and Crown delivered their closing remarks. The Defense started the proceedings today.

The Defense based his closing remarks on the fact that the complainant was not truthful about any of the incidents. During the closing remarks, the Judge told the Defense he would have to wrestle with the size of each individual and who pulled whom out of the bed. The Judge also said both lawyers are playing with a double-edged sword because there are no complaints to the police. The Judge was expecting to hear why there were no calls to the police but didn't hear it. The Judge made a point of the complainant requesting that Birtch grab his wallet and keys and turn off the car, so it might have been because Birtch had a history of leaving her and he says there was more absence of evidence as there was no forensic evidence to show when the pictures were taken or if they were even sent.

The Crown started his closing remarks and said he would not restate the testimony as the Judge took good notes. The Crown said the complainant testified well and was very emotional with her answers as it would be traumatic to relive the alleged events. He said the complainant's emotions were genuine and not an act for the trial. Throughout the closing remarks the Crown made statements regarding all three incidents and the fact that Birtch's testimony changed and was made to fit his agenda to paint the complainant as a person who was clingy, irrational, and irresponsible. A big topic that was part of the Crown's closing was the event that happened in the Pavey Street home. According to Birtch and his son, the incident happened on the 13th of December, when the complainant broke into the bedroom, and Ben escorted her out of the house. The Crown says that it would make more sense that the incident of the complainant being escorted out of the Pavey Street address would have happened in October 2021, and not December 13, 2021, based on the fact the complainant was a welcomed guest in the home. The Crown says the shoes are the smoking gun, as there is no evidence from Birtch that the complainant took off her shoes. The Crown says the complainant taking off her shoes is laughable, and she wouldn’t have made that decision to take off her shoes if she indeed broke in, damaged the door and was causing a scene. The Crown says it is a made-up story, and it was easy to make up as some of those actions took place, but it would have been in October. The Crown says that since it was a made-up story it puts major cracks in the Defense’s case. Lastly, the Crown says that some of Ben’s accounts make the complainant’s story true.

The Defense had the opportunity to rebut and all he had to say was the court must be very concerned regarding the immense speculation the Crown was using in their case.

Once the closing remarks were finished, the Judge decided to reserve making a verdict until a later date. The Judge, Crown and Defense agreed that Thursday, August 8, 2024, will be the date for the verdict on all three counts. The day will start at 2:30 p.m. at the London Court House.

DAY 3 (May 29th) - Crown continues Cross Examination of First Defense Witness, Defense Calls Second Witness, Crown Cross Examines Second Witness

It was a later start to day three of the Trevor Birtch trial, as Justice Michael Carnegie was tied up in another matter for a different case. Proceedings began around 11:30 this morning, with the Crown continuing his cross-examination of Trevor Birtch. 

The Crown went back to the alleged event in December 2021 to clarify when Birtch told the complainant not to come over to his house. Birtch told the court that it was way before the incident said to have taken place on December 13, 2021, that he told her not to come around to his residence anymore. Birtch went on to tell the court that there could have been messages before the 7:45 p.m. timestamp on the messages that were put into evidence as exhibit two, but he recollected that he never answered the complainant on December 13, 2021. The Crown then asked Birtch about how the complainant got into his bedroom, to which he answered she broke into the door and caused damage to both the door and doorframe. He was asked about when and how his son got to his bedroom that night and Birtch said his son heard the loud noise from his room and proceeded up the stairs to open the interior door to his dad's bedroom. Birtch went on to say that he didn't call for his son to come up to the bedroom and that he wasn't expecting his son to come up to his bedroom at any point that night. The Crown asked if the complainant was drinking that night, and he said yes, he could tell by her behaviour and could smell it on her breath. When asked if he reported the events of December 13th to police, he said no, there were no calls to the police. To bring further clarity to the situation, the Crown brought in a 14-page document, which was a text message conversation between Birtch and the complainant. The exchange started on December 25, 2021, and continued until January 1, 2022. The Crown used this conversation to point to the fact that even though there might not have been any other face-to-face meetings between the two, there was still communication, and it seemed to be civil and friendly.

The Crown then moved on to an alleged incident that Birtch brought up about the complainant assaulting him causing a black eye. Birtch answered questions and said in particular that the complainant's daughter witnessed the punch. When asked if he called the police about the assault, Birtch said no he didn't report the assault and didn't seek medical attention. The Crown suggested that Birtch was making up the account of having a black eye, seeing as he didn't do anything to hide something that could ultimately be a burden being in a position of power as the Mayor. Birtch denied that fact and stuck with his accounts of being punched in the face and receiving a black eye.

Next, the Crown brought up the transcript of the interrogation between Birtch and Sergent Patrick Morrissey. In that interrogation, Morrissey asked Birtch if he was pronouncing his girlfriend's name correctly, and Birtch corrected him by saying friend. The Crown used that as Birtch potentially trying to distance himself from the complainant and making it easier for him to paint a picture of the complainant being clingy and irrational. Birtch disagreed with that statement, saying the relationship was not exclusive and that is why he used the word friend and not girlfriend. There was a video segment from the interrogation that was played in the courtroom, and it showed Sergent Morrissey and Birtch in the interrogation room and Birtch being asked why all of sudden, the complainant would be coming to the police so far after the fact, and Birtch's answer to the officer was "woman's scorn" with a smile and chuckle.

In the last bit of the cross-examination of Birtch, the Crown makes a statement that he would have had a lot of stressors in his life during 2021, which would be why he acted with rage. The Crown said the stressors would cause him to be aggressive if the complainant didn't oblige in what he wanted, and if he wanted something he was going to get it at any cost. In response, Birtch disagreed and denied that there were any stressors and that he had no reason to act out in any form of rage.

Up next in the day's events was the Defense calling the second witness to the stand, who is 18-year-old Ben Birtch, the son of Trevor. It was a short examination by the Defense, as they only talked about the alleged incident from December 13, 2021. When asked about his account of the event, Ben told the court he was woken up by hearing his dad's voice saying get out. Once he was awake, he got dressed and proceeded to leave his room and go through the house and upstairs to his dad's bedroom. The Defense asked how long it would have taken him to get from his room to his dad's and he said maybe 15 seconds. Once he was in his dad's room, he said he saw his dad in his bed, and the complainant hiding behind the TV stand. He was then asked what he did once he was in the room, and he said he told the complainant to "get out." He remembers being at the top of the stairs and having the complainant say she needed to go back and get her shoes, once that happened he followed her down the stairs to the side door of the house. Once at the side door, he said she opened it and left the house on her own, and he did not touch or help her leave. He was asked if he saw a vehicle that could have belonged to the complainant, and he said no it was dark. After that statement, the Defense had no further questions.

The Crown then started the cross-examination of Ben by asking when he first met the complainant. Ben answered he first met her in 2016 or 2017. He was asked if he knew his father and the complainant were dating, and he said that he had no idea they were dating, he understood the relationship as a friendship. Ben said during the cross-examination that before the incident in December, he would have seen the complainant in the summer of 2021, and would have never seen her after he and his dad moved into the house on Pavey Street. Ben was asked if he was aware that his dad left a ladder outside of the house for any reason other than to do construction projects on the house, and he answered that he never knew of a ladder being outside the house. It was after that question and answer the Crown concluded the cross-examination.

Day 4 of the trial will consist of the closing remarks from both the Crown and Defense. Court will start tomorrow at 10 a.m.

DAY 2 (May 28th) - Defense Cross Examines Complainant, Crown Reexamines Complainant, Defense Calls First Witness, Crown Cross Examines First Defense Witness

Day two of the trial started with a 30-minute stand down, as the complainant had some trouble getting to the Court House. Once she was in the building and set to go, the Defense began questioning the complainant. The first bit of questioning was trying to get an understanding of what the complainant knew of the marital status of Birtch when they started dating. The complainant believed he was still married and not separated when they first began talking. She only found out about the separation when she sent a message to Birtch inquiring about the situation.

Up next for the Defense, was asking about the first incident, which took place in July 2021. The day started with both Birtch and the complainant taking a trip to Port Bruce and having a day at the beach. Once they were done at the beach, they stopped in St. Thomas at Taco Bell to get some food and then proceeded to take a drive and ended up at a church on County Road 13 west of Springford. While in the car, there was a phone call that came on Birtch's phone from a woman named Michelle. The Defense made a point that the phone call made the complainant upset and that is why they made the stop at the church. The complainant disagreed with that and stuck to her answers from being questioned by the Crown, which was they stopped because they liked finding old churches. There was agreement that she went to the bathroom in front of the cornfield, but the Defense described the events of the complainant not being in Birtch's car as being upset and not wanting to be in the car with him, so that is why she started walking away. She disagreed with that statement and stuck to her answer of Birtch being upset for being denied a sexual favour and taking off without her. The Defense moved on to the incident behind her apartment once they were back in Woodstock after their trip. It was suggested that the complainant invited Birtch up to her apartment, which she denied. When asked if she stayed in the car, she agreed, but not for the fact of being upset about Birtch not wanting to come up to her apartment, but for the fact she wanted answers as to why he was acting the way he was and why he would leave her. The Defense suggested that any injuries that were sustained from the incident behind her apartment could have been caused by herself after being angry, which she denied and stuck with the fact that Birtch was the one to cause the bruising. The pictures of the bruises were brought up, and the complainant was adamant that she sent Birtch the pictures of the bruises moments after taking them. When asked if she called the police about the assault, she said no because he sat on the Police Board, and also didn't want him to lose more than he already was.

The Defense moved on to the incident that was said to have taken place on February 14, 2021, at the Idlewyld Inn and Spa. The Defense suggested once they got into the suite and after they both got out of the bathtub, it was the complainant who initiated the sexual acts, but she denied ever making any sexual advances. It was brought up that once the complainant was turned down she got upset and proceeded to kick, slap, and pull his hair. It was said by the Defense that the complainant used Birtch's hair to pull him out of the bed, and again she denied that fact.

Moving into the third incident, which was originally said to have taken place on December 13, 2021. This incident took place at Birtch's home, but during questioning the complainant was asked about text messages that were sent the night of the 13th. The messages brought into the case started at 7:45 p.m. and lasted until 11:08 p.m. When asked about the text messages, the complainant disagreed with three messages in the thread, saying she did not send those as the wording was not the way she would talk. The complainant claims on the 13th she was invited over to Birtch's home to have a conversation about a red van that had been in his driveway multiple times. During the questioning, it came out that the third incident happened on December 15, 2021.

There was a reexamination from the Crown of the complainant, as he was trying to clarify the date of the third incident. During the questioning, the Crown asked about the conversation that was had before the text messages at 7:45 p.m. and the complainant said it was positive and said there was confirmation both over the phone and via text message that they were to meet on December 13, 2021. The complainant said that seeing the text message conversation in court sparked the memory of when the December 2021 incident took place, which was December 15, 2021. That ended the reexamination, and at that point, the Crown asked for the complainant to be excused as there was an application he wanted to put forth. The application was to amend the dates that were associated with the third incident. Originally the dates were December 10 to December 13, 2021, but with the amendment, the dates now read December 10 to December 31, 2021.

Next up for the day was the Defense calling their first witness to the stand. Trevor Birtch took the stand and began answering questions ranging from personal information to accounts of the incidents. The Defense started with the incident that took place in July 2021. Birtch said the day in July started around lunchtime and the complainant was drinking heavily, while he might have had a casual drink. Birtch continued by saying that once they left Port Bruce, they made some stops and ended up getting food, which was supposed to be eaten once they were back in Woodstock. According to Birtch that did not happen as on the drive, there was a phone call that came on his phone from a woman named Michelle, which sent the complainant into a fit of rage, which included screaming, hitting his arms, and hitting the dash. He then says that is when he went into the church parking lot to try and defuse the situation. He said she went to the bathroom near the cornfield and ended up calling for him to help her as she had fallen. His next account was that he took a blanket out of his car placed it on the ground and brought out the food they had stopped to get earlier, as he thought that might help. He goes on to mention that once they got closer to the car after she went to the bathroom, another phone call came through, and even though she could not see who was calling, it put her into another fit of rage. He says once that happened she decided to leave by walking. He claims that he turned left towards Woodstock as that is the way he thought she would go. He went 600 meters and didn't see her and decided to turn around and go back towards the church. He says he found her and picked her up to drive her back home. Once they got back to the complainant's apartment, he claimed she was inviting him up and he denied the invitation. He went on to say when he denied the invite, she refused to leave the car unless he agreed to come up to her apartment. He then turned off his car and grabbed his key fob and wallet like he was going to go up to her apartment. When they were both out of the car, he stated she fell on the gravel driveway and at that time he went back to his car and drove away. When he was asked about the photos of the bruises, he said he never had them sent to him and was not the cause of the bruises.

His account of the second incident was that they got to the hotel on February 14, 2021, around 7:50 p.m. after he had finished working. Once in the suite, Birtch showered, then filled up the bathtub so they both could enjoy a romantic bath with candlelight. He was the first out of the tub and said he needed to have a nap as he was tired from work. He mentioned it was sometime later that the complainant came out of the tub and joined him in the bed. He said she started making sexual advances and he told her he didn't want it at that time as he was tired and needed a nap. After that, he says she began kicking him and eventually pulled him out of the bed by his hair. After he was out of bed, he slept in the chair in the room and then woke up at 7:30 a.m. the next morning and said they were leaving. 

Heading into the final incident, Birtch moved to an address on Pavey Street and took possession in mid-September of 2021. The address is where the incident was said to have taken place. During the move-in process, Birtch said the complainant was very helpful. He said some events happened in August, September and October that caused his son to say he would not live with Birtch if the complainant was around in the home. To make sure he and the complainant were not in the home together he put a ladder outside the home as there was a door that entered his bedroom above the carport. Birtch said he tried multiple times to end the relationship and was threatened to have bikers come after him, so when December 2021 came around he decided to remove the ladder. He said on December 13th the complainant showed up at his house and broke into his bedroom. At that point, his son came to his bedroom and took the complainant out of the house. He mentioned that December 13th was the last time she was at his house.

The last event to start today was the cross-examination of Birtch by the Crown. The Crown began by asking about how long the relationship lasted, and he said it was from April 2020 to December 2021. When asked how the relationship was, Birtch said it was "okay" until the incident on February 14, 2021. He then said there were threats of bikers coming after him if he broke up with the complainant in May 2021, it was then in October he returned the key to her apartment, and that was a sign of trying to break things off. When asked about the bursts of anger from the complainant, he said there was no outbursts of violence or anger from the time they started dating in April 2020 until February 2021.

That was where the cross-examination stopped for the day. Day three of the trial is set to resume tomorrow at 11 a.m.

DAY 1 (May 27th) - Crown Questions Complainant

It was an empty courtroom, as no members of the public were in the gallery for the start of the proceedings. The only people that were there were members of the media and those involved in the trial. The day started with the reading of the charges against Trevor Birtch, which include one count of assault, which was said to have taken place in early July of 2021, a count of sexual assault alleged to have happened on February 14, 2021, and another count of sexual assaulted stated to have taken place in mid-December of 2021. Birtch pled not guilty to all three counts against him.

Next, the Defense team was trying to get a text message conversation added as evidence. The judge took the time to look over the case presented and decided to allow the Crown to talk with the complainant. After a brief recess, the trial resumed and the decision was made to allow the conversation in as evidence for the defense.

The Crown brought their first witness to the stand this morning, who was the 45-year-old complainant in the case. She was very emotional as she was being questioned via CCTV. She stated they first met at a function and after that, Birtch began messaging the complainant via social media. Her friends kept telling her that he was into her, but she didn't see it like that. Their first date happened on April 12, 2020, and sexual relations were had from day one. During the early part of the relationship, Birtch spent a lot of time at the complainant's apartment and even had his own key. There was a point when the complainant's vehicle had to go to the shop as there were recalls and work that had to be done, the cost of the repairs was expensive, and Birtch said he wanted to cover the expenses. She tried saying no, but if she denied financial help she would not get any love, and it got to a point that if she did take the help she was taking handouts.

Getting into the first incident, which was said to have taken place around Valentine's Day of 2021 when Birtch took the complainant to a spa for what she thought was going to be a romantic date. She said that he came to pick her up, and was already at a point of intoxication that made her question if he should be driving. They got to the room, and she took a bath, and during that time, Birtch was pouring glasses of wine. Birtch joined her in the bath for 5 minutes, before exiting. Once she was done in the bath, she came out of the bathroom to the bed in a bathrobe and crawled into bed with Birtch. Once in bed, she thought it was just going to be some cuddling and watching movies, as there was no rush into anything sexual since there was no time frame to leave the room the next day. Birtch then said let's go baby and proceeded to try and force her head towards his private area. As she continued to say no and try to move away, he then went to try to get her out of the bed by pushing and kicking her. She fought back, and at that point, he got out of the bed, grabbed her by her hair and housecoat, and threw her to the ground towards the bathroom door. As she recalls there were no significant injuries from this incident.

Moving into the next alleged incident, which was in July of 2021 the two went for a drive, as they both liked trying to find old churches around Oxford County. They spent the entire day together and ended up visiting this little stone church near a cornfield. She could not remember the exact location in Oxford County where the church was. During the second time at this church, Birtch asked for her to perform oral sex, and she said no. She then went out of the vehicle to the cornfield to go to the bathroom, and when she got roughly 7 feet from the vehicle, Birtch drove away. It was about 35-40 minutes before he turned around and picked her up on the side of the road. She was told she had to sit in the back seat, but during the drive, she ended up getting into the front passenger seat. They ended up getting back to her apartment and were parked at the back of the building. She was told to leave the vehicle, but she didn't want to leave without having a conversation as to why he was acting the way he was. He didn't want to talk and continued to ask her to leave the vehicle, at which point he came around to the passenger side grabbed her legs and arm, and was thrown onto the gravel parking lot with enough force to skid along the gravel. Once she was up off the gravel she tried yelling his name, and he just got in his vehicle and drove away. Pictures were presented as evidence to the court of the bruises on her right arm and right knee. Birtch at the time of the incident said he didn't cause any injuries, where she is claiming he is the one that caused the bruising. She then said the relationship returned to normal about 5 days after that incident.

We now go into the final incident, which is alleged to have happened around December 12 to 13, 2021. She was invited to Birtch's house and decided to take the invite. She got to the house between 10 and 11 p.m. and would enter the house through a door leading into the kitchen. Birtch would check to see if his son was still asleep and she would tiptoe into Birtch's bedroom. The night started with both of them in bed and watching TV. Birtch then removed the covers off of him, undid his pants, and told her she knew what to do. At that point, she started giving consensual oral sex, she then tried to lift her head for a breath, and that is when he wrapped his legs around her back and used his hands to force her head further down on his private area. She began choking and not being able to breathe, and he would not loosen his grasp. She then said at that particular point it was no longer consensual, as she could not control her own body. There was a point where she ended up biting him in his private area, as that was the only way he loosened his grip.

After the incident in December, it was in the early months of 2022 when some vandalism of her vehicles took place, and she was advised by Woodstock Police to stay at a friend's house. She also made plans to meet with Birtch on December 15th to discuss what happened. He didn't follow through on that agreement, at which point she blocked all of his phone numbers. He tried to contact her by using pre-generated phone numbers and would do so every day from 12:30 a.m. until 4 a.m. It is alleged that Birtch showed up at the complainant's friend's house, took a picture of the door, and then sent a message saying the complainant had 5 minutes to come out of the house. Her friend ended up calling Woodstock Police and the ball was in motion. The complainant didn't call the police as she had past experiences that caused her to think they were not on her side, with Birtch being on the Police Board she thought he would have favour. She also said during the questioning that if her friend did not call the police they probably would not be sitting here in court at this time.

The trial continues tomorrow at 10 a.m. with the Defense doing the cross-examination of the complainant.