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 – A second victim has testified in the trial for Brian Cox, who is accused of sexually assaulting two teenage girls in the 1980s.
Janice Klinetobe testified Cox raped her dozens of times when she worked at his car dealership between 1988 and 1991.
Klinetobe was 18 when she said the abuse began, and Cox was in his 30s.
Cox has pleaded not guilty to two charges of sexual assault against Klinetobe in addition to two charges of sexual assault and two of gross indecency against Kristin Bax between 1986 and 1988.
Bax testified and was cross examined in March, and Cox is set to testify in July or September.
Both Bax and Klinetobe testified remotely, with a support person from the The Victim/Witness Assistance Program by their side.
About 20 people attended the trial on May 1, most of whom have connections to a nondenominational church of which Cox, Klinetobe and Bax have all been members.
The church doesn’t have an official name, but is referred to as Two by Two (2×2) or The Truth.
Klinetobe said she was born into this church but is no longer a member, having attended her final service in January.
Before working for Cox, Klinetobe said she knew of him through church but hadn’t spoken with him.
Cox’s dealership, BJ Auto Sales, was initially a fun place to work, Klinetobe said, noting Cox enjoyed hanging out with “young kids” in their late teens and early 20s, so lots people her age worked there.
But within a few months, Klinetobe said Cox asked her to accompany him to a car auction in Montreal, where they stayed in a hotel room, and that’s where Cox raped her the first time.
She was hesitant to go because she’d heard rumours about what happened to Bax on similar trips, Klinetobe said.
So she asked Cox’s wife Janice about it, and “She gave me her blessing to go,” Klinetobe said, adding Janice encouraged her not to worry about what others said.
Within a month or so of that trip, Klinetobe found out she was pregnant.
She said Cox told her she had to get an abortion at the Morgentaler clinic in Toronto, under a fake name.
After the abortion, she said Cox made her drive a new vehicle back to Guelph, and she remembers “still feeling very dopey and drugged” while driving.
Klinetobe was upset about the abortion, but Cox forbid her speaking about it, saying it would destroy their families and they would be shunned from the church, which meant going to hell, Klinetobe said.
“I felt very alone,” she said. “I felt like I was in a prison.”
When Cox’s defence lawyer Dean Paquette began his cross examination, he warned Klinetobe “the law requires that I put certain suggestions to you that I anticipate Mr. Cox will testify to,” and while she may find the questions offensive, he is “obligated” to ask.
Paquette suggested Klinetobe consented to having sex with Cox the first time in Montreal, and again in the middle of the night, and again when they woke in the morning.
“He raped me,” Klinetobe said. “I did not ask for it.”
“You said nothing,” Paquette said.
“I froze,” Klinetobe replied.
“You can speak while you’re being raped,” Paquette said.
“Some people scream, some people kick and shout. There was a 300 pound man on me so I froze,” Klinetobe said.
Paquette asked if Cox threatened or hit Klinetobe to make her comply.
“He laid on me,” Klinetobe said.
“Did you struggle at all?” Paquette asked.
“I froze,” she repeated.
Paquette pointed out the first incident happened in August, and Klinetobe had initially planned to leave Guelph at the end of summer to return to Sheridan College in Toronto where she was studying design arts.
He asked Klinetobe why she didn’t return to school in September to escape Cox.
Klinetobe said before the first rape, Cox had convinced her that it was a better career move to continue working at BJ Auto Sales, and by the time he raped her, she had already dropped out of college.
After the first trip to Montreal, Klinetobe said she and Cox made similar trips every few months or so for the rest of her employment.
She started taking oral contraception, which she said was Cox’s idea.
Paquette questioned why Klinetobe agreed to go on the trips, and she said she had to because Cox told her to and it was her job.
“You didn’t speak out against it because what was happening was what you both wanted to happen,” Paquette suggested.
“You were having a relationship with each other and the two of you would take every opportunity you could when you were together to engage in sexual intercourse.”
“He took the opportunity,” Klinetobe corrected.
She said Cox also started regularly raping her in his office, and occasionally at his home. She said every time it happened, she froze, and it was never consensual.
Paquette asked Klinetobe if she recalls coming into Cox’s office, wearing nothing but a trench coat and rain boots, locking the door and climbing onto Cox’s lap.
“No,” Klinetobe said, “that didn’t happen.”
Paquette suggested Klinetobe and Cox had sex “about 500 times.”
Klinetobe said it was less than that, but that she wasn’t sure how many times it happened – possibly around 50.
“You were lovers!” Paquette exclaimed.
“It was just part of my life now – I had to let him do his thing,” Klinetobe said.
Paquette asked Klinetobe why she didn’t tell coworkers, family, or people in the church.
“I was afraid,” she said.
“What were you afraid of?” Paquette asked. “Wouldn’t he have stopped?”
“I don’t know if you’ve ever been raped before, but it’s not something that’s easy to talk about,” Klinetobe said.
She said Cox told her that her parents would be mad at her if she told them.
Klinetobe described being under Cox’s control.
She testified about coming home from watching a Blue Jays game with a friend, and Cox had parked across the street from her home.
She said he called her over and told her he had a recording device and had recorded everything she and her friend had talked about after the game.
“He was stalking me,” Klinetobe said.
Paquette suggested Klinetobe chose to spend time with Cox, noting he had “all the toys” such as ATVs, snowmobiles and jet skis.
Klinetobe confirmed she did ATV, jet ski and snowmobile with Cox, but she had her own machines. She agreed she was part of a snowmobile racing team with Cox.
“You didn’t want to be left out of anything, is that not true?” Paquette asked.
“I didn’t feel that I had a choice,” Klinetobe said. “He controlled my social life.”
“No, you controlled your social life,” Paquette insisted.
Klinetobe said after she left BJ Auto Sales in 1991, she didn’t see much of Cox, other than at church gatherings, during which she avoided him.
Paquette suggested Klinetobe continued working for him until 1992 or 1993, and presented a short, blurry video he claimed showed Klinetobe on Cox’s property watching people jet ski in 1992.
Klinetobe said she did not see herself in the video, and Paquette seemed unable to point her out – mistakenly pointing to a child and momentarily claiming it was her.
He showed a screenshot from a different video he said was from the same day, and confidently identified someone as Klinetobe, but she said “I can’t say that’s me.”
“Mr. Cox will say that’s you,” Paquette said.
He showed a second video he said was from January 1992 that showed Klinetobe and Janice Cox sitting on crowded bleachers watching a snowmobile race.
Around the same time, Klinetobe said she and Bax found out Cox had plans to adopt children from another country.
They were concerned he would abuse the children, so they decided to tell a leader in their church about what Cox had done.
They told Carson Cowan, who was the overseer for Ontario, Klinetobe testified.
She said Carson told them not to repeat their allegations because “’it would not be good for the image of the religion.’”
It was about three decades later that Klinetobe made a statement to police.
“In March 2023 there was a big scandal that came out, and it’s been uncovered that there’s been extreme abuse within the church, so it kind of brought everything up to light again,” Klinetobe said.
A hotline was set up for survivors, and when Klinetobe called, she said it was “the first time in all those years I had discussed it for quite some time.”
Then Bax went to the police to report her own experiences, and Klinetobe’s name came up.
“Police contacted me and asked if I would make a statement,” Klinetobe said, “and I did that.
“I’ve since given a statement to the FBI because the FBI is investigating the religion as well,” Klinetobe said.
Paquette suggested there were discrepancies between Klinetobe’s statement to police and her testimony in court.
“This was the first time I ever talked about these details to a stranger,” Klinetobe said, referring to the police statement.
“It’s a traumatic time to talk about these things.”
She said now that she’s had more time to think about it, she can remember more details than those she shared in her initial statement.
Klinetobe’s cross examination is set to continue in late July, followed by testimony and cross examination for Cox.
