A former London police officer has pleaded not guilty to 12 charges against him, including sexual assault, as one complainant testified on Monday about a pattern of “aggressive” and domineering behaviour during and after their relationship.
Stephen Williams, who has legally changed his name to Will Stephens, pleaded not guilty to 12 charges, including sexual assault, distributing an intimate image without consent and harassment, related to incidents with three female complainants dating as far back as February 2021.
One of the charges, theft under $5,000, was withdrawn Monday afternoon by the Crown.
Speaking with the assistance of an interpreter, the woman, whose identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban, testified about her relationship with Stephens that began in February 2021.
The woman, the first witness for the Crown, testified that Stephens said in May 2021 he did not want a relationship, but continued to show up at her home uninvited at least once a week until October 2022.
“I didn’t know what to do to stop him from coming,” she told the court.
“He always wanted to come. He always needed something from me.”
The woman described “aggressive” and “unreasonable” behaviour by Stephens that left her with bruises on several occasions.
“It was like a joke to him to throw me onto the floor and sit on top of me,” the woman told the court. “When I would start to scream, I saw that it made him sexually excited.”
The woman testified that Stephens repeatedly held her so she could not move and undressed her in public. She testified that she would struggle and tell him to stop.
“He would lift up my T-shirt. If I was wearing a dress, he would lift my dress. I attempted to wear things he would not be able to strip,” the woman told the court.
The woman testified about a summer beach day in Port Stanley in 2021, where Stephens deliberately overturned an innertube she was in, knowing she could not swim. He then ripped her one-piece swimsuit, leaving her fully exposed from the waist down, the woman testified.
The woman testified she made a complaint to police about Stephens in late 2022 after media reports about his past legal troubles with other women.
“I learned a lot about things he had done and I was afraid he might do the same things to me,” the complainant said during questioning by assistant Crown Nicole Soehner. “I was scared about what he might do.”
The cross-examination by Stephens’ defence lawyer Cassandra DeMelo centred around the woman’s interactions with another complainant involved in the case.
The woman admitted she was told not to communicate with the other complainant by police, but said she occasionally corresponded with the other complainant.
The woman admitted she told the other complainant that she had gone to the police about Stephens.
The woman admitted during cross-examination that the other complainant also contacted her after filing her own complaint about Stephens with police.
Stephens, a former London police constable, resigned from the department in October 2021 after walking out of a professional misconduct hearing.
His legal and disciplinary troubles began in 2017 when he was suspended with pay after London police charged him with sexual assault and harassment related to an alleged off-duty incident involving an ex-girlfriend.
Stephens was charged with breaching bail conditions multiple times before pleading guilty in 2019 to making a harassing phone call and two counts of breaching release conditions. He received a conditional discharge that included 12 months probation.
The trial before Justice George Orsini in the Ontario Court of Justice is scheduled for eight days.