Lucy DeCoutere says emails that suggest she enjoyed Jian Ghomeshi’s company do not change the fact that he choked and slapped her “without consent.”

Confronted with numerous emails by defence lawyer Marie Henein, the Trailer Park Boys actress told a Toronto court on Friday she knew their paths would continue to cross and she wanted to make Ghomeshi into a friend and neutralize the situation.

At one stage, the court gallery burst into laughter when DeCoutere said: “I feel like you have an exhibit you want to show me,” to the defence lawyer.

Henein asked why DeCoutere would try to be friends with a man who allegedly assaulted her. DeCoutere said it was normal for people to contact the people who assaulted them. She said it is like someone who is assaulted by their husband and stays married to them.

“Yeah, people do that. It’s a weird thing. But it’s real,” DeCoutere said.

DeCoutere has testified that the 48-year-old CBC Radio host started choking and slapping her in the face without warning while they were kissing at his home in July 2003.

Henein produced an email in court Friday that DeCoutere sent Ghomeshi on July 5, 2003, a day after the alleged assault. It read: “You kicked my ass last night and that makes me want to f--- your brain out. Tonight.”

Another letter she wrote to Ghomeshi read: “Jian you are great. I want to have more fun times with you . . . . I am sad we didn’t spend the night together.”

DeCoutere read the letter’s sign off at the request of Henein. It said: “I love your hands, Lucy.”

DeCoutere said that does not mean she wanted him to choke or slap her.

“He choked me without consent, because he never asked for it . . . he slapped me without consent because he never asked for it,” DeCoutere said.

When questioned by the Crown later in the day, DeCoutere said it had a “weirdly apologetic tone like I had done something wrong. Like I was placating him.”

She added that Ghomeshi was funny and cool, but he also assaulted her and she was a different person when younger.

In another email sent on July 17, 2003, 13 days after the alleged assault, DeCoutere wrote to Ghomeshi: “I think you are magic and would love to see you.”

Henein then asked DeCoutere if she was prepared to admit she was lying about her feelings and about the incident. Absolutely not, DeCoutere said. DeCoutere said she forgot about the email, but it “doesn’t change the fact of the matter.”

Earlier in the trial, Henein produced an email from Nov. 24, 2003, after the Gemini Awards where DeCoutere alleges Ghomeshi once again placed his hand on her throat.

The email’s subject line was “brace yourself” and the message read: “I’m in town and am gonna call your cellphone and ask you to play me with me . . . in a manner of speaking . . . so you have fair warning.”

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DeCoutere said the message may seem like a double entendre, but it was platonic.

Henein produced another email, sent around the time that read: “how busy are you gonna be in banff? i wanna play with you.”

And another, stating: “wanna go for a hike? pims on the terrace? chance encounter in the broom closet?”

The court was not shown Ghomeshi’s replies to any emails.

Henein asked DeCoutere why she didn’t tell police before this week about snuggling in the park with the man who allegedly choked and slapped her.

Is it possible that DeCoutere just forgot the things that show she is lying, Henein asked. No, DeCoutere answered.

DeCoutere said she believed her first statement to police was the first step in a longer exposition that would be teased out later by the Crown. She said her only knowledge of the legal system came from American TV shows.

Henein said DeCoutere has a lawyer who is very experienced in the process of sexual assault trials and it is not true DeCoutere did not know the process.

DeCoutere is the second complainant to take the stand at Ghomeshi’s trial.

The actress is one of three women whose complaints prompted five charges against Ghomeshi: four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking. He has pleaded not guilty.

As reporters lined up outside the courthouse early on Friday morning, a young man with a skateboard ran up the steps and began banging on the doors and muttering threats and insults at the waiting group. He removed a power tool from his bag, turned it on and was in the process of reaching into his bag again when he was tackled by a reporter. The police were called and escorted the man away in handcuffs.

—with files from Alyshah Hasham and Kevin Donovan

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