R-v-Elliott-Submissions-15-April-7

Q. Okay. So you did feel some fear of Mr. Elliott starting at that
dinner ...
A. Yeah.
Q. ... on April 19th, 2012?
A. Yeah, but unfortunately we live in a world that teaches women to
second guess those feelings. Oh, did I really feel creeped by him ... oh,
because if you can’t point to a specific thing that the
person said that ... or them grabbing you or doing something very specific,
then everyone questions whether you really have a right to feel fearful. So
I questioned it, and I wrestled with my feelings about
things, but toward the end of the summer, yes, definitely. 58
60. It is submitted that Ms. Guthrie’s testimony regarding her only meeting with Mr.
Elliott was a deliberate attempt by her to portray a normal business dinner as
something creepy or seedy; if Ms. Guthrie in fact felt fear during the April 18 th
dinner, it is submitted that, from the outset, her fear was unreasonable.
61. Ms. Guthrie’s testimony regarding what took place after dinner, too, was not
credible. In chief, Ms. Guthrie said:
…as I mentioned [dinner], it went amicably. When dinner was over Greg
offered me a ride home. I declined. He offered again, I declined again.
He offered again, and I said, “You know what, it’s okay. I just live around
the corner.” And then he asked if he could give me a poster, and I said
sure. And he said, “Well, it’s just in my car. Why don’t you come over to
my car and get the poster.” And I said I wasn’t comfortable with that.
And so he went to the car, got the poster, gave it to me and I walked
home. 59
62. However, in cross-examination, Ms. Guthrie confirmed that she could not recall
Mr. Elliott ever touching her during the dinner, and that he did not say anything
remotely sexual to her. Further, she confirmed that his vehicle was parked
directly in front of the restaurant, across a narrow street. Again, it is submitted
that Ms. Guthrie’s testimony was an attempt to unfairly portray Mr. Elliott as
creepy.
63. According to Ms. Guthrie, in the days following dinner, one of her colleagues had
found another artist to design the logo for WiTopoli, so she asked Mr. Elliott if he
would be interested in just designing the poster. Ms. Guthrie testified in chief that
the following was Mr. Elliott’s reaction:
Greg was very angry that we would ask him to do that if he didn’t get to
design the logo as well. He insisted that he would only be willing to
design if he would be able to do both. And when I told him that that
wasn’t a possibility, he refused to design the poster, which of course is
58 Stephanie Guthrie: July 23, 2014, p. 4, line 18 to p. 5, line 14.
59 Ibid, p. 11, lines 22-­‐32.
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