Toronto councillor found not guilty of sexually assaulting two women at Muskoka cottage

Warning: The content in this article may be upsetting to some readers.

Toronto Coun. Michael Thompson has been found not guilty of sexually assaulting two women at a Muskoka cottage during the Canada Day long weekend in 2022.

Ontario Court Justice Phil Brissette handed down the verdict on Tuesday afternoon.

Speaking to reporters after, Thompson said he was grateful and relieved that the “nightmare” was over.

“I’m actually now able to move on with my life. It’s been a very, very difficult period,” the councillor said.

Thompson was charged in October 2022 by the Ontario Provincial Police.

Thompson pleaded not guilty to the charges and vehemently denied the allegations when he testified during his trial this spring.

One complainant told the court that she was “blackout drunk” when the councillor woke her up in the middle of the night and took her to his room, where he forced her to perform oral sex on him.

The councillor testified that at no point was the woman blacked out, unconscious, asleep, uncomfortable, or resistant. He said the woman never said no to him and that the complainant initiated and performed oral sex on him.

The longtime Toronto councillor was also accused of touching a second woman on her backside and breasts while applying sunscreen to her body.

Providing his reasons for the verdict, Brissette ruled that while he believed Thompson did apply the sunscreen to the woman’s body, there were conflicting accounts about their positioning and how long the process took.

He said he found it hard to believe that others who were close by would not have seen it happening.

“The court is not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that this prolonged and sexual touching alleged by [the witness] ever took place,” he said.

On the other allegation, the judge said the court found the councillor’s account of events “convoluted and lacked a reasonableness to it.”

“And it took place in direct contradiction to his own sworn evidence of not wanting anything sexual to take place,” Brissette said.

He also found concerns about the complainant’s account due to intoxication, memory loss and admitted periods of blackout.

Thus, Brissette ruled that the allegation could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

Councillor accuses ‘business people’ behind charges

Thompson told reporters outside the courthouse that “there are people and forces behind why I’m here.”

When asked to expound on who he was referring to, Thompson accused three men and three women but would not name them.

“Because I didn’t do certain things for the three men, I’m involved in a situation that has taken almost three years of my life. They are business people who were unhappy in terms of how I didn’t help them, and as much as I couldn’t help them,” the councillor said, adding that the whole ordeal was “very political.”

Thompson added, “I have lived a life free of any criminality, free of involving any persons at all, or assaulting anyone. And this situation is created in a very timely way to create a situation in which my character was called into question, creating a situation where, if you can’t control me, perhaps you’ll control others, who will then create an impression about me.”

Asked whether he plans to sue the people he is claiming to be responsible for his predicament, the councillor said he would make that determination in the next few days.

“At the moment, I just want to go home, have an amazing shower and have a nice meal,” Thompson said.

His lawyer, Leora Shemesh, meanwhile, who described the accusations during the trial as “a witch hunt,” welcomed Tuesday’s decision.

“It was a long, well-reasoned judgment, and I was incredibly delighted with the result. It was a hard-fought trial,” she told reporters.

“I’m glad that he can go home today and believe that the justice system does work, and it does work well.”

With files from CTV News’ Natalie Johnson and Mike Arsalides