Sexual assaults alleged by UBC student ‘fictitious,’ defamation trial hears as accused former prof continues testimony

The woman who accused former UBC professor and novelist Steven Galloway of sexual assault that ended his writing career said he choked her before kissing her against her will and throwing her into the bunk area on his sailboat.

Galloway called that accusation made by a former graduate student A.B., whose identity cannot be published by court order, “fictitious” during his second day of testimony Wednesday. The purpose of this trial is to determine whether A.B. and three others owe Galloway damages for defaming him.

There was break in his testimony on Wednesday after A.B.’s lawyer objected to the inclusion of details of the three assault allegations, which are presumed to be false because A.B. is not providing evidence to justify the accusations. But Justice Neena Sharma ruled against the objection and testimony resumed.

The first alleged assault was called the Belafonte incident in A.B.’s complaint about Galloway, made a few months after their consensual 2011-2013 affair ended, Sharma heard on Wednesday in B.C. Supreme Court.

A.B. claimed Galloway had invited her on to his sailboat called Belafonte which was moored at the Burrard Marina near Kitsilano Point in March 2011. In her complaint, she said when she resisted him leaning in to kiss her, he grabbed her by throat to the point she couldn’t breathe, according to Galloway’s lawyer, Dan Burnett.

“She says he kissed her and he said, ‘See, that wasn’t so bad now, was it,’” he said.

A.B. said when she tried to leave, he “threw her into the bunk space above” where they were sitting, court heard. She returned to the sitting area but he grabbed her and threw her back into the bunk area, Burnett said.

“That never happened,” Galloway said. “It’s hard to know how to dismantle the story because it’s just fiction.”

“I can’t contemplate a situation in which you would choke a woman by the neck and then kiss her and say, ’See that wasn’t so bad now, was it,” he said.

He said it would be physically impossible for him to do what she described because the opening to the bunk area is about one metre by a half metre and it would require him to throw her upwards through the small opening.

“It’s absurd, it’s just not possible,” he said, adding the Burrard Marina is a busy place, making the scenario unlikely.

The second alleged assault happened after an end-of-year party called the Writers Prom on campus. A.B., who said she had a great deal to drink, ended up with Galloway in his office after the party, where he forced sex on her.

Galloway said they had engaged in consensual sex that night.

The third accusation involved A.B.’s belief that Galloway had assaulted her in an incident of which she has no memory. She said she woke up with physical evidence she had been assaulted and Galloway was watching a hockey game on a computer in another room.