Two more men testify against MacIntosh
Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh walks out of the Sydney Justice Centre after being released on bail in April 2008, in this Post file photo.
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PORT HAWKESBURY — Two men told the Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Tuesday that a former Strait area businessman sexually assaulted them multiple times when they were boys in the 1970s.
The men, now in their 40s, are the younger brother and cousin of the initial complainant, who testified Monday on the opening day of the trial of Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh.
MacIntosh, 67, faces 26 counts of indecent assault and gross indecency at this trial. He has pleaded not guilty.
The identities of the complainants are protected by a publication ban.
One man told Justice Simon J. MacDonald that he was abused three times by MacIntosh, a family friend, when he was between the ages of nine and 12. He said the incidents occurred in MacIntosh’s car off a dirt road, at an apartment and in a room at a boarding house. He couldn’t say which one occurred first.
He said each incident started by MacIntosh grabbing his leg, and ended with MacIntosh undressing him and performing oral sex on him. He said his head was covered by a jacket or blanket.
“I could not comprehend that was happening to me, to me, it’s mind-blowing and I just recall wanting it to stop … I just remember wanting to leave and go home,” he said.
He said that as a child his world was hockey, and he associates the age he was when the alleged abuse occurred with the level of hockey he was playing at the time.
The abuse left him with no fond memories of his childhood, he said, and he continues to have sleepless nights.
“I just remember the anxiety and terror of what was happening to me, and just wanted this to stop,” he said.
Defence lawyer Brian Casey noted that the man’s mother had asked the man whether MacIntosh had ever abused him, and he denied it, and repeated those denials after his brother came forward. Casey said that didn’t change until 2001, after his brother told him that MacIntosh’s attempted extradition from India had hit a rough patch.
He replied he was afraid of what people would think of him, and regrets lying to his mother.
Casey asked why he didn’t follow up with an RCMP request for a notarized affidavit, despite written requests, and the man said it was an oversight partially due to several moves and confusion with the process. He didn’t offer a formal statement to police until six years after filing the complaint in 2001.
“Those events will stick in my mind until the day that I die. The fact that I did or did not sign an affidavit may slip my mind, but those acts, those three acts, will stay with me for a lifetime,” he said.
The third man said MacIntosh abused him about five times between the ages of 11 and 13. He said MacIntosh occasionally picked him up as he walked home from school, and sometimes took him to his rooming house, where MacIntosh performed oral sex on him.
On another occasion, he accompanied MacIntosh on an overnight trip to Halifax and he said MacIntosh performed oral sex on him in a hotel room.
He said the first person he told was his brother, who then told him about the initial complainant against MacIntosh having come forward.
In his first police statement, the man didn’t mention any assaults taking place at the rooming house, Casey noted. He said he intentionally downplayed the abuse.
“I just thought it would sound not as bad … that’s how I felt at the time,” the man said.
He said the abuse ended when his parents heard sexual allegations against MacIntosh.
Casey said the man made his second police statement, which included the additional incidents, after word that there were problems with MacIntosh’s extradition. Casey asked if a police officer may have indicated extradition chances would improve if more criminal charges were laid. The man said he didn’t recall such a conversation.
Casey noted that both of the complainants were unable to recall a number of details about where the assaults allegedly occurred, such as whether the rooms were carpeted or the number of beds.
The father of the two brothers also took the stand. He said he was working on MacIntosh’s 1974 provincial election campaign when he heard an allegation “about (MacIntosh) liking little boys.”
He said he and his wife questioned their sons, who denied any abuse. His wife told MacIntosh to stay away from their house and he said he stopped socializing with MacIntosh.
As he left the witness box and passed by his former friend, the father glared at MacIntosh.
MacIntosh is to face a separate trial on 10 additional counts involving three other complainants. No date has yet been set. The Crown expects to wrap up its case today.
(nking@cbpost.com)
Cape Breton News 
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