Article content continued

“We understand that none of the charges involve employees or former employees of CBC and we won’t be commenting about charges that are now before the courts,” the broadcaster said in a statement.

Toronto police announced the charges Wednesday morning. Ghomeshi faces a faces a fifth charge for overcome resistance by choking, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Section 246 of the Canadian Criminal Code is for “Overcoming resistance to commission of offence,” which says that it is a crime “to enable or assist himself or another person to commit an indictable offence” by “attempts, by any means, to choke, suffocate or strangle another person” and make them “unconscious or incapable of resistance.”

“Essentially, it’s an offence to choke someone with an intention to assist themselves in committing an indictable offence,” lawyer Sean Robichaud told the Post in an email.

“Therefore, it seems that it’s alleged that Mr. Ghomeshi either did, or attempt to choke someone for the purpose of overcoming consent to a sexual act or acts.”

Life imprisonment is the maximum punishment for the overcome resistance charge. The maximum penalty for sexual assault is 10 years.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

Ghomeshi had not been seen for weeks prior to Wednesday’s appearance.

Several neighbours on his street, near Main and Gerrard, said Ghomeshi was rarely around and some people didn’t even know he lived on the block until the scandal broke. Although he hasn’t been spotted, someone has been raking his leaves and collecting his mail, which at one point had piled up on the front step, neighbours said. On Wednesday, the impressive brick house with large picture windows and a towering pine tree sat quiet.

“For someone to fall from grace, in that respect, I feel sympathy,” said one woman who lives on his street, but declined to give her name. “Do I agree with the alleged treatment of the women he dated? No, I don’t.” She described Ghomeshi as friendly and lauded his work on the radio. “Q is not the same. It’s not even close to being the show it was and we’re sorry about it.”

The investigation into Ghomeshi began on Oct. 31, days after he was fired from the CBC and several women came forward to police with allegations of sexual violence. At least three women made official complaints to the police, while about a dozen people have made allegations through the media.

Speaking to reporters Wednesday, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair said police would not be commenting on the matter as it is now before the courts.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

Asked about the reluctance of women to come forward in this and other sex assault cases, he said in this case and other cases they will be treated with respect if they do.

“We encourage the victims of any sexual assault to come forward and I want to offer them reassurance they will be treated with dignity and respect,” the chief said.