A former chief of the Fort St. James volunteer fire department denied allegations he sexually assaulted three of the department's female volunteers when he took the stand in his defence on Wednesday.
"The allegations are untrue," Robert Harold Bennett told the court when asked by defence lawyer Jason Ternow what he had to say about the claims at the centre of a trial at the Prince George courthouse.
Bennett admitted a problem with alcohol towards the latter end of his tenure affected his performance as the department's chief. He also said he could be loud and obnoxious when drunk
"But I've never in my life ever have I sexually assaulted anybody in my entire life. I've never touched anybody for a sexual purpose," Bennett said with a forceful tone in his voice.
In an address to the jury to open the defence's case for Bennett, Ternow submitted the allegations against Bennett raised by Kirsten Rudolph, Lisa Button and Joy Reierson were "cruelly concocted and an absolute fabrication."
It's alleged Bennett groped the three on various occasions and came close to raping Reierson while alone with her one evening in the hall's radio room. Under questioning from Ternow, Bennett said he had been going through a stressful time due to pressures on the job combined with the suicide of a sister and the premature birth of he and his wife's twin children.
"I wasn't very good at managing stress...I went and saw some counselling to assist me with it. I also used alcohol as a crutch," Bennett said.
Bennett admitted he was "intoxicated" during the evenings of two key events - the alleged attack on Reierson on April 4, 2013 and an alleged groping of Rudolph on July 18, 2013 but denied the complainants version of the events.
He said Reierson had asked to talk to him about the challenges she was facing as the secretary-treasurer of the department's charitable wing. He said they went into the main hall's radio room for the sake of privacy - so others could not overhear her concerns - and while she leaned against a table near a window, he leaned against the front edge of a desk near the door, 4-5 feet away.
Bennett confirmed a volunteer firefighter, Mark Rivard, showed up at one point to ask if he wanted a ride home. Bennett said he wanted to stay awhile longer out of a reluctance to get a lecture from his wife for being so drunk and Reierson subsequently volunteered to drive Bennett home.
Bennett also agreed with Reierson's testimony that the conversation also turned to his wife and the complications she had been having during her pregnancy with the twins.
But he denied ever forcing a kiss on Reierson and then pinning her to a wall and then the floor. He also denied locking the door after Rivard left, saying he actually left it open. And he said two other firefighters - Don Fraser and John Bennison - never knocked on the door but rather they happened to be out in the hall after the meeting between he and Reierson had ended.
As for the incident with Rudolph, Bennett said he was very drunk and against his better judgment, had decided to drop by the fire hall. When he came across Rudolph sitting with some other firefighters the hall's common room, Bennett agreed he was flicking her ponytail as well as knocking her ball cap off and "generally being a pest to get a rise out of her." But he denied making sexually suggestive comments and contrary to her claim he reached around to grope her breasts, Bennett said he was poking at her shoulders and ribs.
Bennett said he stopped, left the room and went home when Fraser and Bennison, who were also in the room, made it clear he should. "They basically told me 'you're not wanted here anymore, that's enough, goodbye see you later, hit the road," Bennett said. "Maybe not those exact words, but."
Bennett said he showed up at the hall against his better judgment in the first place given that he was extremely drunk.
Bennett also denied ever touching Button's breasts and buttocks as well as some other alleged incidents involving Rudolph or Reierson. Button, who was sitting in the gallery, wiped away tears when she heard Bennett's denial while her partner put her arm around her. Rudolph, meanwhile, glared at Bennett.
Bennett said matters began to come to a head in April 2013 when he was pulled over while in Port Moody and issued a 90-day roadside suspension. When he told the municipality's chief administrative officer about the incident, Bennett said he was given a verbal warning and advised to get counseling for stress and alcohol issues, which he did although the drinking appeared to have continued.
He said he has not touched alcohol since August 2013 when he was charged with the three counts of sexual assault and his wife threatened to leave him.
Prior to Bennett's testimony, RCMP Cst. James Potyok took the stand to field questions about what Rudolph told him when she went into the community's police detachment on July 19, 2013 to talk about the incident in the common room the night before.
Potyok said Rudolph told him Bennett had never touched her chest although he did reach around and make a squeezing motion. As demonstrated to him by Rudolph, Bennett's hands appeared to be a "healthy foot away," the court was told.
After consulting with a superior officer, Potyok said he told Rudolph it appeared to be a case of sexual harassment and thus a workplace issue rather than a criminal act of sexual assault and directed her to the community's municipal office.
A file was documented for information, "but as far as engaging into a criminal investigation, we didn't go forth with that at that time."
Defence counsel has suggested the three "juiced up" subsequent statements to police.
Crown prosecution began its cross examination of Bennett late Wednesday and it will resume this morning at the Prince George courthouse.
