A hammer. (Canvas)
VANCOUVER, BC — A Fort St. John attorney is in the midst of a sexual assault trial after a night out in Vancouver in 2020, according to the Vancouver Sun.
Robert Zeunert has pleaded not guilty to assaulting a woman who cannot be identified due to a publication ban.
The appellant on Thursday told a BC Supreme Court jury what she remembered from the night of February 18, 2020.
According to the Vancouver Sun, the complainant said she went to the Railway Club in downtown Vancouver after work to have a few drinks with co-workers to “let off steam”. The woman told the court that she had had many drinks at the bar for several hours and the group got into a debate with some men who were sitting nearby.
The applicant called herself “very drunk” and said she began speaking to Zeunert, who told her he had worked as a Crown Prosecutor and was a barrister working at Fort St. John.
She told the court she couldn’t remember when the two left the bar and had trouble remembering events. Her next memory was of standing outside smoking a cigarette, overlooking the club.
The woman said the next thing she remembered was having trouble standing on a corner near Georgia Street and the Vancouver Hotel. She said she remembered walking through the Hotel Vancouver and coming out on Burrard Street.
According to the Vancouver Sun, the court was told the alleged sexual assault took place at the Sutton Place Hotel in Burrard.
The complainant said she remembered getting on a hotel elevator but not who pressed the button. She then recalled that Zeunert had opened a hotel room door.
Entering the hotel room, she said she dropped her bag and coat and then fell face down on the bed “like a ton of bricks”.
She said she doesn’t remember if words were spoken but wondered if she was safe or not.
The Vancouver Sun said she told the jury she couldn’t remember exactly what happened that night.
The applicant told the jury that she woke up in bed with her pants and underwear off and Zeunert performed oral sex on her between her legs.
At one point she said Zeunert was next to her and tried to touch or touch her chest.
Crown Counsel Phillip Sebellin asked the applicant if she had consented to the sexual contact, to which she reportedly replied “absolutely not”.
She said when she woke up she was “horrified” to see Zeunert naked in bed next to her, the Vancouver Sun said.
The complainant said that she wanted to get dressed and leave the hotel room.
She explained that Zeunert then woke up and asked her if she would like to see him again and gave her his business card before she left.
The Vancouver Sun said Zeunert’s attorney, Richard Gibbs, confirmed with the applicant that Zeunert was a stranger to her at the time.
Gibbs led the complainant through several video clips of her and Zeunert sitting at the bar.
She said she couldn’t remember the conversation between her and Zeunert because she was “very” drunk.
Gibbs highlighted one clip in which she grabbed Zeunert’s forehead and another in which Zeunert had his hand on her shoulder and leaned forward to speak to her.
Gibbs asked her what was going on and the complainant said she didn’t know, according to the Vancouver Sun.
The process is running.
