Sacked Canadian Broadcast Corporation host Jian Ghomeshi. Credit:Getty Images It sparked an unexpected response from Ghomeshi, who claimed on Facebook that he was sacked because of his private sex life, acknowledging a preference for consensual "rough sex" and saying that his "tastes in the bedroom may not be palatable to some folks". He filed a lawsuit the day after his sacking, claiming that CBC made a "moral judgment" that his bondage-sadism sex life was wrong. He is suing the CBC for $C55 million ($55.6 million) for defamation and breach of trust. The Toronto Star now claims to have spoken to eight women who have accused Ghomeshi of abusive behaviour in the years since 2002.

Canadian actress Lucy DeCoutere. Credit:Getty Images Two of the women who allege they were physically assaulted also say that, before the alleged assaults in Ghomeshi's home, he introduced them to Big Ears Teddy, a stuffed bear. Ghomeshi was said to have turned the bear around just before he slapped or choked the women, saying that "Big Ears Teddy shouldn't see this". Another woman, who at the time of the alleged assault was a CBC producer, told the Toronto Star that Ghomeshi threw her against a hotel room wall and was very "forceful" with her. Another woman told the newspaper that Ghomeshi had "delivered three sharp punches to the side of her head while she lay on the floor".

DeCoutere is the first woman to publicly put her name to allegations of violence, outlining her version of events to the Toronto Star and on the CBC radio program The Current. The actress said she met Ghomeshi at a television conference in Banff in 2003, and later they exchanged "playful" emails. She soon visited Toronto, and went to dinner with the radio host, after which they went back to his house. DeCoutere claims they started kissing before Ghomeshi became violent. "All of a sudden he choked me and slapped me in the face a few times," DeCoutere told the Toronto Star.

"It was totally bewildering because I've never had anybody slap me in the face before. It's not a pleasant feeling to be choked and it came out of nowhere. It was unprovoked. "There was no indication that this was going to happen. Jian said that he would like to go home with me and hold me, but he never indicated that he was going to hold me by the throat." DeCoutere said she left his house shortly after the incident in a taxi. In a Facebook post on Sunday night following his sacking, Ghomeshi wrote an emotional statement saying he had "done nothing wrong". He said it was not unusual for him to engage in "adventurous forms of sex that included role play, dominance and submission". However, he said it had always been consensual.

His lawyers repeated this in the statement of claim filed as part of his lawsuit. In his posting, Ghomeshi wrote: "Let me be the first to say that my tastes in the bedroom may not be palatable to some folks. They may be strange, enticing, weird, normal, or outright offensive to others ... But that is my private life ... And no one, and certainly no employer, should have dominion over what people do consensually in their private life." He claimed a jilted ex-girlfriend was responsible for launching a campaign against him. Following DeCoutere's allegations, Ghomeshi again turned to his Facebook page to make a public statement. "I want to thank you for your support and assure you that I intend to meet these allegations directly," he wrote.

"I don't intend to discuss this matter any further with the media." Fairfax Media