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Author and former University of British Columbia professor Steven Galloway leaves B.C. Supreme Court on Oct. 6.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The ex-husband of a woman who accused author Steven Galloway of sexual assault and harassment testified that she told him that Mr. Galloway had put his hands around her neck while the two were on his sailboat, but that she refused to file a police report or let her partner “go have a little talk with him.”
The woman, who is known as A.B. because of a publication ban on her name, had said she wasn’t going to the authorities and instead would take care of the alleged incident herself, her ex-husband testified on Monday in B.C. Supreme Court.
“She said she was going to ‘destroy him,’ were her direct words,” said the ex-husband, who was called as a witness by Mr. Galloway’s legal team.
The Globe and Mail is not naming the ex-husband because of the publication ban on A.B.’s identity.
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His testimony was part of a defamation trial Mr. Galloway brought against the woman and three others who later repeated her allegations that he sexually assaulted and sexually harassed her. Mr. Galloway, a bestselling author who was head of the University of British Columbia’s creative writing program, was suspended from that role in November, 2015, amid an investigation into the allegations.
He was dismissed the following year after a retired judge hired by UBC to investigate A.B.’s claims found he had sexually harassed her and other instances of misconduct leading to his firing, but did not find that he sexually assaulted the woman.
A.B.’s ex-husband testified that he had wanted to confront Mr. Galloway about “a pass at my wife,” but she was worried he would get into a fight and convinced him otherwise.
He testified that the pair married in 2011, separated in 2014 and divorced some years later. A.B.’s ex-husband did not put a date on the alleged sailboat incident, but the court heard earlier this month that A.B. and Mr. Galloway had a two-year affair and that she later alleged three instances of sexual assault.
Court heard that she alleged in a complaint to UBC that he grabbed her by the throat, kissed her and threw her up against the bed in the bow when she tried to escape during a visit to his sailboat in False Creek in the spring of 2011. Mr. Galloway testified this was false and that the boat was too small to throw anyone into its covered bow without seriously injuring them.
A.B.’s ex-husband began his testimony explaining how he met Mr. Galloway when his then-wife was attending the creative writing program and they would all go drinking at a legion on Vancouver’s hip Main Street. In the early days, the married couple also received tickets to Vancouver Canucks games from the author and professor, who she viewed as nerdy, her ex-husband testified.
He said in the spring of 2013, he drove A.B. to Banff so she could attend a two-week writing workshop, and that Mr. Galloway was her planned ride back to Vancouver. Then, he said, he got a frantic call from A.B. asking him to come pick her up because she was very angry with Mr. Galloway, but she wouldn’t explain further beyond saying he was being “an asshole” and “wasn’t paying any attention to her.” He recalled driving all day and arriving in Banff to meet A.B. socializing with her writing cohort and Mr. Galloway, whom he said he bought a scotch to have a word with.
“I gave him a scowl and walked away,” A.B.’s ex-husband testified.
He told the court he didn’t find out about A.B.’s affair until her allegations of sexual assault went public when the university suspended Mr. Galloway, kicking off an online firestorm and sparking CanLit controversy.
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Earlier Monday, bestselling Canadian novelist and UBC creative writing professor Timothy Taylor testified about an “unprecedented” meeting in November, 2015, before Mr. Galloway’s suspension, where faculty at the program were told of allegations made against him by a student. Mr. Taylor recalled being one of nine people at the Sunday afternoon meeting held at the home of a fellow professor, Linda Svendsen.
Mr. Galloway, who was then chair of the program, but in Ohio for a speaking engagement, was not present and was unaware the meeting was taking place. Mr. Taylor testified that at that meeting, attendees were told about sexual-assault allegations made by A.B., and played two voicemails Mr. Galloway had left her.
The messages, Mr. Taylor testified, were presented in way that suggested they were “statements of culpability in the rape allegations they had just heard.”
The faculty were told that another former student, Chelsea Rooney, had been dispatched to find other students or former students who also had allegations against Mr. Galloway. Mr. Taylor said those at the meeting were told seven other women had come forward with similar allegations.
By the time another meeting was called the next day at UBC, that number had ballooned to 19 others with allegations.
“It struck me that Ms. Rooney was carrying out her duties with some enthusiasm,” Mr. Taylor told the court.
After the close of proceedings on Monday, A.B.’s ex-husband was seen outside the courtroom with one arm wrapped tightly around Mr. Galloway’s shoulders, the pair locked together in what appeared to be an intense conversation.