TORONTO — A Toronto police officer accused of sexually assaulting a woman nearly a decade ago told his trial Tuesday that he had consensual sex with his accuser.
Const. Vincenzo Bonazza took the stand after emotional testimony from the woman who alleged the officer forced her to comply with his demands while they were at her apartment in September 2008.
“It was consensual from the time it began to the time it ended,” said Bonazza, 47, who has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault.
He told court he first met the woman, who cannot be identified, while sitting in his squad car sipping a coffee. The woman asked him about becoming a police officer and also asked for help dealing with her ex-boyfriend who had been charged with harassing her, he said.
Bonazza said he asked the woman for her name and number, which she gave to him.
“She was an attractive girl and I saw an opportunity,” he told the court, adding that he pursued the woman despite the fact that he was married and had met her on the job.
Bonazza said he used police databases to “run her file” and “conduct a history” of her. A day or two later, he called her to “chit chat,” which is when she invited him to her apartment, he said.
At the woman’s home, Bonazza said the pair watched part of a movie the woman appeared in before he asked if he could kiss her.
“She said ‘I don’t know what you’ve been waiting for,’” he testified.
That led to consensual sex on her futon, he said.
Bonazza said he left the woman’s apartment five minutes after the sexual encounter ended, telling her he couldn’t commit to seeing her again because he was married.