(JESSICA WALLACE / iNFOnews.ca)

UPDATE: 1:15 p.m. June 25, 2013

KAMLOOPS - The defence continues to allege Crown witness testimony in a sexual assault case in B.C. Supreme Court this week is unreliable.

The trial began yesterday for a Kamloops man — who cannot be named to protect the two complainants—accused of sexually abusing his foster child who lived with him from age four to 18 for three to four years before sexually assaulting her friend at a sleepover.

The man's foster child, now a 20-year-old woman, testified yesterday, and her friend, also a 20-year-old woman, testified today.

In part of the cross-examination of the woman's friend, defence lawyer Rob Bruneau continued to allege that the two women corroborated their stories and were lying.

Bruneau said the other woman convinced her friend to make up the story so she could move out and keep her boyfriend.

The friend admitted that the woman had said if she lost her boyfriend she would kill herself.

Bruneau pointed out multiple differences in the friend's testimony, as he had done with the other woman, compared to what she had told police in March of 2011 following the alleged incident.

"I had forgotten about that part," the woman said.

"You forgot about the fact that he asked you five, six, seven times to, I quote, 'screw you'," Bruneau said. "I'm going to suggest you have made this entire thing up."

However, the woman denied the allegation.

"I have forgotten a lot of the evidence because it's been over two-and-a-half years," she said.

She also said some of the details never came up in the police report because her mother was in the room at the time she gave the statement.

The Crown is expected to call the foster child's twin brother next as it's final witness.

To contact a reporter for this story, email: jwallace@infotelnews.ca, call: (250) 319-7494 or tweet: @jess__wallace.

"The two of you... cooked up this story:" Defence lawyer

5:13 p.m. June 24, 2013

KAMLOOPS - The defence suggested today in cross-examination that an alleged victim in a sexual assault case has been lying throughout her testimony.

A Kamloops man is in B.C. Supreme Court this week charged with two counts of sexual assault and one count of touching a young person for sexual purpose.

A 20-year-old Kamloops woman told the court this morning that her foster father sexually abused her for three to four years before sexually assaulting her friend at a sleepover. The woman said she kept it a secret because she didn't want to disrupt the family and wanted to stay with them. Her biological brother also lived with the accused, his wife and their two children.

Defence lawyer Rob Bruneau, however, challenged her testimony about her friend, the event she said led her to come forward in 2011 and had her removed from the foster home.

"The two of you… cooked up this story," Bruneau said. She disagreed.

He suggested she would have done 'anything' to be with her fiancé at the time, and wanted to since she was 16.

"The only thing that mattered was being with (him)," Bruneau said.

"I did feel very attached to him at that time," she responded. "I was also very young, though."

She said when the details aired about the alleged sexual abuse, her fiancé immediately broke up with her, saying he couldn't 'handle' it and would never trust her again for withholding the information.

Bruneau suggested the witness had a history with drug use, had run away from home and school multiple times, was fired from a job as a teen for stealing and had a romantic relationship with the friend who was allegedly abused.

"(She) was only a friend," the woman said, adding that she was a bi-sexual, but had only kissed her friend when they were intoxicated.

"We were teenagers and girls and it's a very common occurrence," she said.

Bruneau pointed out multiple differences in the woman's testimony compared to a statement she gave police following the 2011 incident.

"A lot of things do blur together," she said. "When I made my statement, it was all very new. I just blurred out everything that happened."

The trial is expected to continue tomorrow, with the Crown calling the woman's friend as the next witness.

To contact a reporter for this story, email: jwallace@infotelnews.ca, call: (250) 319-7494 or tweet: @jess__wallace.

News from © iNFOnews, 2013