Taking the stand in his defence, Kalen Schlatter on Monday denied sexually assaulting and strangling 22-year-old Tess Richey in an alley between two houses on Church Street in the early hours of Nov. 25, 2017.

The Crown is alleging Schlatter, 23, sexually assaulted and killed Richey after she refused to have sex with him.

Schlatter testified it was Richey who initiated a kiss with him after her friend had gone home, and Richey who asked him to follow her into the alley where she was found dead at the bottom of a stairwell by her mother and a friend four days later.

He testified that he left Richey alone and on her phone by the stairwell in the alley at her request, though he offered to stay and keep her company.

“How do you feel about leaving Tess Richey alone when she was in the driveway?” Schlatter’s defence lawyer Lydia Riva asked at the end of his examination-in-chief.

“I felt terrible,” he said. “I should have stayed with her.”

Schlatter has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. His defence lawyers have suggested it is possible that someone else killed Richey after Schlatter was seen on security cameras leaving the alley by himself at 5 a.m. on Nov. 25, 2017. No one else was caught on camera going into the alley after that time, according to police evidence.

In his testimony Monday, Schlatter also denied confessing to his cellmate in jail that he strangled Richey using a scarf after she told him she couldn’t have sex because she was on her period.

Schlatter said he did tell his cellmate, known as E.S. due to a publication ban, about meeting Richey that night and about the evidence police had gathered against him, including the alleged motive — that he was “pissed off and angry” that Richey refused to have sex with him.

E.S. testified that Schlatter told him he was high on MDMA and edibles, as well as drunk, when he “lost control” and killed Richey. Schlatter denied taking either drug but said he was drunk at the bar.

During his testimony, Schlatter said that after his arrest homicide detectives told him Richey had died from “neck compression and” — he paused and appeared to be overcome with emotion as he tried to finish his sentence — “strangulation.”

Schlatter testified that he met Richey and her friend Ryley Simard while they were all outside the Crews and Tangos bar in the Gay Village at around 2 a.m. The jury has heard Richey, heartbroken from a recent break-up, went dancing at the bar with her high school friend Simard.

The Crown has shown the jury security video from various cameras inside the club and along the streets, showing much of the interactions between Schlatter, Simard and Richey that night.

Simard had asked him for a lighter for a cigarette, but he did not have one, he said. He said he began walking up Church Street to go to Pizza Pizza when he ran into Simard again. They began talking and she introduced him to Richey, Schlatter said.

Richey told him how her ex-boyfriend cheated on her and said she wanted to egg his house, he said. The nearby Rexall was closed, Schlatter said, and he suggested using hot dogs instead. To that, he said, Simard kissed him as if to say it was a good idea.

They stopped at a hot dog stand and Schlatter bought five hot dogs, he said. He said he was having a good time and Simard and Richey “seemed like nice people.”

They started walking again and, while on Dundonald Street, Richey struck up a conversation between a woman who was on her porch, Schlatter said.

After this, Simard and Richey argued. Simard wanted to leave and Richey wanted her to stay a little longer, Schlatter said. Simard left and headed west towards Yonge Street and Richey walked east towards Church Street.

“I look at both of them. I see that Tess is a little more upset from the argument,” he said. “I walked over to her to just check if she is alright.”

They spoke about her ex-boyfriend again and Schlatter told her about a time when he had his heart broken. He said she was “intently listening” and declined a phone call.

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The jury has heard Richey had ordered an UberPool around this time but never showed up.

Schlatter said Richey asked if it was okay that she kissed him and he said yes.

“We sat down, gave each other a hug, kissed and then we held hands and she asked me to come with her,” he said. They walked up Church Street and Richey asked him to “follow her into the driveway.”

They walked downstairs into a stairwell leading to a basement door, and began to “kiss, make out, and feel each other up,” he said.

Schlatter said he told Richey he had condoms in his pocket if she wanted to have sex, but she declined because she was on her period. He said they continued to make out and he ejaculated in his pants, which embarrassed him.

The jury has heard Schlatter’s semen was found on Richey’s pants and his saliva on her bra.

After this he asked her if she wanted to come home with him, he said.

“She then told me thanks for the offer, I’m fine,” he said. He said he asked if he should stay with her and keep her company, but she said no and pulled out her phone.

“I said OK, have a good evening, get home safe,” he said. They said bye and he left.

“Why did you leave while she is still in the driveway area?” Riva asked.

“She told me to leave,” he said.

He left about 45 minutes after they walked into the alley together, according to security video the jury has seen.

Schlatter said he only learned Richey died on Dec. 10, 2017, when a friend told him they saw his picture in the media and sent him a link to a story about the investigation into Richey’s death.

He was arrested on Feb. 4, 2018. After his arrest he was put in a police station holding cell between two undercover officers. Schlatter said it was the undercover officer who began asking him questions to prompt a conversation, asking about the Superbowl game that night. The officer has testified it was Schlatter who started all topics of conversation. Schlatter also testified he bragged about the number of women he slept with because he was trying to impress the two men and hide his bisexuality for fear he would be “picked on or beaten up” in jail.