The defence challenged the memory of the witness, and suggested she never told Manz she was uncomfortable.
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A 47-year-old woman told a Regina court that she recalls Ruben Adam Manz telling her to relax.
The chiropractor told her “It’s part of the treatment” when he touched her in a way she did not expect, the woman testified on Tuesday.
“I said, ‘The hell it is.’ “
Manz faces seven charges of sexual assault stemming from complaints filed by former patients.
He pleaded not guilty to all counts when his trial began on Monday.
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Most of the charges carry date ranges, with the earliest beginning in 2010 and the latest ending in 2020.
The first witness, who took the stand in Court of King’s Bench on Tuesday, said she believes Manz touched her inappropriately during a chiropractic appointment in 2011. Her name is protected by a publication ban.
Under questioning from Crown prosecutor Jackie Lane, she said previous injuries and participation in fitness activities have put her in need of a chiropractor many times, but none of them has ever touched her the way Manz did during the incident.
She described him performing a kind of stretch in which he had his hand on her shoulder. He asked if she was “OK” before repeating it, this time with his hand lower down, in front her shoulder, she told court.
After asking if she was OK again, he slid his hand lower onto the skin under her shirt and performed the stretch again, she said.
When he again asked if she was OK, she said yes again, but more hesitantly, she testified.
“The next time he put his hand into my bra and pulled up on my breast.”
He never said he would need to do this and she never said it would be OK, she told court.
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She testified she left his office immediately and did not see Manz again for treatment.
While she initially contacted a chiropractor’s association after the incident, she did not bring her concern to police until April of 2021, after she’d learned through the news that Manz was facing charges, she said.
The news made her angry “that he did this to somebody else,” the woman testified.
Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Kathy Hodgson-Smith, she said she could not remember many of the details.
She’d had testified that she thought she might’ve seen Manz for treatment about 12 times. Hodgson-Smith asked whether she recalled telling police she’d seen the chiropractor about five times.
Hodgson-Smith produced a series of medical records and suggested the woman had only seen Manz once. The witness acknowledged she’d been “guessing” about how many times saw Manz for treatment.
She recalls the incident at issue “like yesterday,” she said.
“It wasn’t OK.”
Hodgson-Smith suggested to the complainant that she never told Manz she was uncomfortable.
“I absolutely disagree,” the complainant said.
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She’d told court she stormed out of Manz’s office without paying and testified that the receptionist threatened to call the police on her.
Hodgson-Smith suggested she’d not stormed out and a call to police was never threatened.
“That is not my memory,” the complainant responded.
Hodgson-Smith suggested she booked another appointment when she last left Manz’s office, but never showed up.
“I absolutely did not,” she responded. “I carry this every single day,” she later told the defence lawyer, tearfully.
Testimony from a subsequent witness had not concluded by press time. The trial is scheduled to continue Wednesday.
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