A week ago, Ray Newman emphatically told a provincial court judge he had never been violent toward any woman, not his ex-girlfriend nor anyone else.
On Friday, the judge told Newman he didn’t believe him.
Judge David Orr convicted Newman, 40, of assaulting his ex-girlfriend last September, despite Newman’s insistence on the stand that she had assaulted him while he was in bed and he had pushed her away from him.
Orr pointed out the woman had bruising and swelling around her eye, marks on her cheek and neck below her ear, scratches on her chest and abrasions to her legs as a result of the incident, while Newman had a red mark on his nose.
“(The complainant’s) injuries are consistent with her description of Mr. Newman placing his hands on her throat, dragging her and striking her. Mr. Newman’s description explains the red mark on his nose only,” Orr said. “As a result, I do not believe Mr. Newman and I do not believe there was evidence to raise reasonable doubt. I accept the evidence of (the complainant). (Her) evidence and the evidence of her injuries satisfy me that she was assaulted by Mr. Newman and I find him guilty as charged.”
Orr dismissed a choking charge due to a lack of evidence.
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The court heard the pair had been at a bar drinking and playing pool the evening of Sept. 2, and had begun arguing on the way home. The woman testified the argument had escalated once the couple was inside the house, with Newman punching her, trying to drag her out of the house by the leg and putting his hands around her neck and choking her until she blacked out. She was able to get a breath of air, she said, and punched him in the nose, causing it to bleed.
The woman said she then drove to the police station in Mount Pearl, but found nobody there, so she returned to the house and slept in the vehicle in the driveway.
Newman testified he had gone to bed, but was later woken up by the woman punching him in the head. He said he pushed her off him and she may have injured herself on a nightstand as she fell to the floor.
Newman called police after the woman left at 5 a.m., but it took them more than 11 hours to respond, something the judge said was not satisfactorily explained at trial. When police officers did eventually arrive, they arrested Newman and charged him with assaulting and choking the woman.
While Newman said nothing as Orr delivered his verdict Friday afternoon, family members of Newman late ex-wife, Chrissy Predham-Newman, clapped and voiced their satisfaction with his conviction.
Predham-Newman was found murdered in her Airport Heights apartment in January 2007. Newman had been charged with murder in her death, but was acquitted in 2012. During his trial, a Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court judge ruled to exclude a portion of the evidence presented by police, saying officers had made a mistake by not reading Newman his rights until 30 minutes into their interview with him, at which point he had already told them that he had been at his estranged wife’s apartment the day she died. Newman’s acquittal was upheld on appeal.
Over the past 10 years, Predham-Newman’s uncle, Bruce Harvey, has been a vocal advocate for stronger punishments in cases of violence against women. He spoke to reporters through tears after court was adjourned Friday, saying the thought of Newman potentially being acquitted on the assault charge had scared him.
Harvey said he hoped Newman’s conviction would mark a change in the way the courts deal with domestic violence, and a realization by society of the seriousness of the issue.
“I’m very happy. I hope there’s a change for women in the future that have to come forward with this, that they can see some progress and some change, and (the abusers) being held accountable,” Harvey said. “That’s all we want. We just want accountability. It can’t be ignored anymore.
“She’s been recognized,” he said of the complainant. “Her voice counted, where a lot of people don’t have that voice anymore.”
Newman will return to court for a sentencing hearing June 27.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
