Warning: This article contains allegations of sexual assault. Anyone who is at risk of sexual violence or has experienced sexual violence can call the Guelph-Wellington Women in Crisis 24-hour helpline at 1-800-265-7233.
GUELPH – Relations and sex acts between Brian Cox and two women accusing him of sexual assault were mutual and consensual, Cox said during his ongoing testimony in Guelph court on Thursday.
The Puslinch resident is accused of sexually assaulting Janice Klinetobe and Kristin Bax between 1986 and 1991.
Cox was in his 30s when the alleged offences first occurred. The women were in their teens; Klinetobe was 18 and Bax 16.
Cox has pleaded not guilty to two charges of sexual assault against Klinetobe, and to two charges of sexual assault and two of gross indecency against Bax. His trial began in March.
Now 69, Cox is heavy-set, white-haired and has a moustache.
He spoke from the stand in a low, gravelly voice, conceding he had erred in having sex with the teenaged girls some 39 years ago.
“I was a terrible, terrible person,” Cox said as he seemed to briefly break composure.
“Everything I did was wrong,” he added, referring to himself as a “hypocrite in the worst way.”
But a criminal? Not so, he testified.
Cox maintained there was consent every time he engaged in sexual acts with Klinetobe or Bax in the late 1980s.
Cox’s defence lawyer Dean Paquette continued asking Cox on July 24 for his version of things when he was with either of the girls at Montreal car auctions, in hotel rooms, his home, workplace and elsewhere.
It’s at those many locations, the women testified, that Cox sexually assaulted them over a period of years.
But Cox told the court Bax and Klinetobe were always willing participants.
Cox’s testimony on Thursday focused largely on disputing allegations made by Bax that he forced non-consensual sex acts on her, and took on a position of authority in her life.
The two were introduced by Murray and Ruth Richards, Bax’s adoptive parents, through a closed-off religious organization, known as Two by Two (2×2), with which they were all associated at the time.
Past and current members of the obscure international organization (currently being investigated by the FBI for alleged abuses and criminal behaviour) have attended the trial from across southwestern Ontario in support of the women.
Crown attorney Marilyn Dolby, cross examining Cox, brought up his position within the so-called church, suggesting he was a senior member and thus there was a “power imbalance” between he and the girls.
“I was not a senior member of the church,” he said. “I treated them just as an equal.”
Cox became guarded when Dolby brought up Two by Two, retorting and challenging the Crown.
Justice Matthew Stanley reminded him questions flow in one direction.
Bax began working at BJ Auto Sales, a Guelph car dealership owned by Cox and his wife, sometime in her mid-teens.
(The business’ employment records from that time have since been destroyed.)
She testified Cox sexually assaulted her the first time in Montreal, followed by another occasion on a train ride, and on his Puslinch property.
Cox said they had consensual sex in Toronto after the first Montreal visit, but denied having sex on two other specific occasions.
He told court he would do anything to make reparations for his past behaviour.
“Would you stay out of the church to fix it, turn your back on the church, to fix it?” Dolby asked.
“No, never,” Cox said.
Sentencing submissions are expected Monday.
