NEWS FILE PHOTO The Medicine Hat Provincial Court is seen in this file photo.
WARNING: This story contains graphic content. Discretion is advised.
——————————
jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel
The jury trial of a local pastor accused of repeatedly molesting his niece and compelling her to get an abortion heard testimony from the complainant and her mother Wednesday.
The complainant testified that the accused, who cannot be named to protect the complainant’s identity, first sexually assaulted her in February 2012.
She was 17 and it was her first sexual encounter.
“I started crying because it started hurting,” she said. “I was so ashamed to look at him and tell him, ‘You took my virginity away.'”
The complainant said she planned to abstain from sex until marriage, as her aunt did, due to her devout Christian faith.
She moved to Medicine Hat in November 2011 from Calgary to live with her aunt and uncle after she was caught sneaking out of her parents’ house once, her mother testified later that day.
The complainant said her uncle lured her into the basement of the home they lived in at the time.
He allegedly touched her leg, asking her what she would do if a boy from school touched her like that, before pinning her to the ground and forcing her to have intercourse without a condom, despite her clearly-voiced objections.
“I told him straight up, I don’t want to do this,” she recalled.
The uncle allegedly continued molesting her until she moved back to Calgary to be with her parents.
Asked by the Crown how many times he sexually assaulted her, the complainant said, “Too many to count.”
Before they moved to a different house, the accused allegedly promised the complainant he would stop the abuse.
Instead, his abuse became increasingly brazen, she testified.
At one point in 2013, the complainant stayed in a hotel with the accused, her aunt and three cousins.
In the middle of the night, her uncle pinned her down, took both their pants off, penetrated her, went to the bathroom and then back to sleep, she testified.
“He just stopped caring at all,” the complainant said. “He started treating me like a sex slave or second wife.”
When she got pregnant she wanted to keep the baby, due to her religious beliefs and that it could be used as evidence of what her uncle did to her.
But she said the pastor demanded she get an abortion, dialing a Calgary clinic and immediately handing the phone to her.
The complainant testified the accused drove her to the abortion clinic, having told his wife he was driving their niece to Calgary to go shopping.
He allegedly told her to lie about her age and address. She wrote down she was 20 and gave a fake address. The form was provided to the jury as an exhibit.
She testified she didn’t tell her aunt while the abuse occurred, because it was her word against his and she didn’t want to ruin their relationship.
“I don’t have parents I can talk to. I don’t have friends. I’m new to this city,” she said. “I felt like nobody would believe me.”
After the abortion, she testified she began drinking heavily, recalling one incident in Medicine Hat when she was so intoxicated she fell down the stairs and hit her head, losing consciousness.
She told her parents what her uncle allegedly did to her only after a 2015 suicide attempt.
The mother testified she thought very highly of her sister’s husband until her daughter told her about his behaviour.
“He was a loving father, a great member of the community (and) a man of God,” she said.
The trial continues today.
