Article content

In the magnificent words of the Tragically Hip, in their 1989 Boots or Hearts song, when it starts to fall apart, man, it really falls apart.

At the just-concluded sexual assault trial of the fallen CBC star Jian Ghomeshi, prosecutors Mike Callaghan and Corie Langdon didn’t have long to wait.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Christie Blatchford: The Ghomeshi sex-assault case started falling apart right from the start Back to video

Their first unpleasant surprise came on opening day last week with the first of three female accusers in the witness stand in a Toronto courtroom — she was and is still considered their strongest complainant and is certainly the least discredited — but it sure didn’t stop there.

Complainant No. 2, Trailer Park Boys actor and Royal Canadian Air Force captain Lucy DeCoutere, who waived the mandatory publication ban on her identity and thus became the face and symbol of Ghomeshi’s accusers, was next.

Despite protestations she had no romantic or sexual interest in Ghomeshi after her purported assault — “I guarantee you that,” she told his lead lawyer, the formidable Marie Henein — it turned out she had all but stalked the 48-year-old former star — all this after he’d allegedly choked and slapped her hard in the face — and had told him in an email she wanted to “f— your brains out.”