The complainant told court she was initially unsure about the actions of Ruben Adam Manz, but by a later session with him she felt “disgust.”
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When asked by a lawyer to describe stretches that her former chiropractor performed on her, the witness became visibly upset.
Pausing her testimony in Regina’s Court of King’s Bench, where the trial of Ruben Adam Manz continued Monday, she wiped her eyes.
The witness told prosecutor Jackie Lane that in 2017, on the recommendation of a friend, she’d begun seeing Manz to address issues with her back. He’d performed stretches on her neck, she said, which began with one of his hands placed on her head and the other on her shoulder.
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He continued to do this stretch at subsequent visits, she testified, but the hand that he’d first placed on her shoulder moved each time.
“It wasn’t a drastic move as I was in the appointment. It was every appointment, his hand was further down in my shirt.”
During the last two to three sessions, his hand was under her shirt, she said.
“His hand would just kind of like try and pull my breast up,” testified the witness, who told Lane that, at their lowest point, his longest fingers were right above her nipple.
Manz stands accused of sexually assaulting the now-30-year-old woman and six other complainants, all of whom are said to be his former patients. None can be identified due to a standard publication ban protecting their identities.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges when his trial began Nov. 4.
Monday’s witness spoke about an experience similar to those described by complainants who testified earlier in the trial that Manz touched them inappropriately during a stretch.
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The woman told court that because Manz was the first chiropractor she’d been to, and because his hand placement changed gradually over the course of appointments, she was initially unsure about what was happening.
“I was confused,” she said.
While she kind of felt the touches weren’t right, she viewed him as a professional — someone she should trust.
However, by her second-last appointment, the witness said she felt “disgust.” After the final session, she knew she could not go back to Manz.
The woman said she discussed it with her boyfriend at the time but, like some others who testified, she did not bring her complaint forward to police until she’d read online that Manz faced charges for sexual assault.
The witness said she has not been able to see male professionals since the alleged touching and described feeling uncomfortable in “vulnerable situations” like fitness classes, which she does not continue attending if males are in the class.
Defence lawyer Blaine Beaven spent a lot of time questioning the woman about her memory. She acknowledged that her responses to a number of questions were guesses, including her estimate that she’d seen Manz for treatment around 10 times.
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Medical records suggested she’d seen him 19 times, Beaven pointed out.
She agreed with Beaven that the chiropractor’s touching at issue was not a “rubbing.”
“It’s not a searching, fondling, is it?” he asked.
She responded that it felt as if his hands were “almost like crawling” as he pulled at her skin, and said it felt like searching.
The witness agreed with Beaven that she’d never seen Manz’ hand while this happened. She’d avoided looking because she didn’t want to see, she said, noting the touch caused her to “freeze.”
The woman had signed a form that stated she should ask questions and that she could stop treatment if she was uncomfortable, she agreed.
Beaven asked why she didn’t ask Manz questions about what he was doing when she initially began to feel uncomfortable with his hand placement.
“I’m a very quiet person,” she responded. “I don’t disrupt a lot of things. I don’t ask a lot of uncomfortable questions. I would say I don’t stand up for myself when I should.”
At the time, when discussing her discomfort with the treatments with her then-boyfriend, did she downplay it to him?
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When she was initially confused and unsure about what Manz was doing, she “probably” would’ve, but “at the end” she “probably” would have told her boyfriend exactly what happened, she testified.
“You don’t really remember,” the defence lawyer put to her.
“I don’t remember the conversations we had,” the witness acknowledged.
The defence lawyer had not concluded his cross-examination by the time court concluded for the day.
The trial is expected to continue Tuesday.
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