Toronto councillor’s sexual assault trial begins [Video]

Toronto Coun. Michael Thompson “forced himself on” a woman who awoke to find him standing over her after she fell asleep drunk, the Crown alleged Monday, as the five-day sexual assault trial of the six-term politician began in Bracebridge, Ont.

Thompson is accused of sexually assaulting two women at a luxury Muskoka cottage on Canada Day weekend in 2022, a getaway the prosecution asserts he coordinated for several women as a networking event – but then urged them to drink heavy amounts of alcohol, smoke marijuana out of his mouth, and take off their clothes.

Thompson, 64, has pleaded not guilty to the two charges.

Crown attorney Mareike Newhouse outlined her case to the Bracebridge, Ont. court Monday, alleging that Thompson sexually massaged one of the women against her will. In the second, more graphically-described incident, she alleges Thompson led the victim to another room in the cottage and pressured her into a sex act despite the victim repeatedly telling him …