Yellowknife (May 14/03) - Testifying in Supreme Court Monday, a 19-year-old woman says she regained consciousness after a night of drinking last summer to find Michel Chretien having sex with her.

Michel Chretien - NNSL Photo

The prime minister's 34-year-old son is charged with two counts of sexual assault and another sex-related charge.

Testifying at Chretien's trial in Supreme Court in Yellowknife on Monday, the woman spoke in a quiet, sometimes trembling, voice. She kept her head down and took a long time to answer certain questions about the alleged assault. At one point, she shielded her face with her hand, which was shaking.

The woman told Justice John Vertes and the jury that she was drinking heavily with Chretien and Robert Fabien at Fabien's home last July 15.

She testified she doesn't remember leaving Fabien's house, but recalls being alone with Chretien in his apartment where they continued drinking.

"What else do you remember?" asked Crown prosecutor Bernadette Schmaltz.

After a long silence, she said: "I remember him being on top of me."

Chretien was having intercourse with her, she testified, and she told him to stop. Then she blacked out again.

She remembered waking up naked, alone. She couldn't find all her clothes, so she put on Chretien's shirt and jacket and went home.

The woman said she went to Chretien's home with another person four days later to look for someone and stayed for 10 minutes.

During cross-examination, Bayly suggested that if Chretien had sex with her, she wouldn't remember if she consented or if Chretien stopped because of her tendency to "black out."

"I told him it wasn't OK," she said.

Bayly questioned her statement to police and her recollection of other events, suggesting that she went to Chretien's apartment twice the following Friday, but only remembers going once.

One charge dates to mid-1990s

Chretien is also accused of sexually assaulting the woman when she was a child in 1994 or 1995. The woman said Chretien touched her "crotch area" over her clothes and placed her hands on his clothed genitals.

"He would tickle me and then start touching me," she said.

Bayly seemed to be implying the touching was inadvertent. "It may well have been part of the tickle fight," he said.

The complainant also admitted she began drinking at age 11, and has been to three residential treatment programs. The woman has a youth record for break and entering, mischief and breach of probation.

A 20-year-old witness said the alleged victim came home wearing a different shirt and T-shirt. She also testified to going with the victim to Chretien's apartment twice, four days after the alleged attack, she said.

The complainant was angry at Chretien and hit him several times, she said. Chretien threatened to call the police and the alleged victim told him to go ahead, that she had a lot to tell the police, she said.

Another 20-year-old witness told the court she had a conversation with the woman when they were 13 or 14. She testified the girl told her Chretien had raped her. Later the witness divulged this to her mother, who told the girl's mother.

The alleged victim was an outgoing and friendly child, said another witness, but her behaviour changed around age 12.

Chretien provided a videotaped statement to RCMP July 26, which was played for the court. Bayly was present for the interview.

The last time she came over was July 19, Chretien said, four days after the alleged assault.

On the tape, he refused to answer a question about whether the woman passed out at his home on July 15, saying he did not want to incriminate himself.

He also refused to answer questions about whether he sexually assaulted her, or if he's ever had sexual relations with her.

Chretien is being tried by a jury made of six men and six women. Many details of the case can't be reported due to a publication ban.