Fri, November 5, 2004
A DEFENCE LAWYER accused a Crown witness of fabricating a statement against a man alleged to have raped and murdered her best friend months later. Jennifer Bess had testified that Allan Dalzell -- whom she once regarded as a good friend -- pinned her while she slept in her bed and sexually violated her in August, 1999.
But Dalzell's lawyer Steven Fishbayn suggested yesterday that Bess made up the allegation after learning that Dalzell had "patched up" his relationship with his pregnant lover on the day after Dalzell and Bess enjoyed consensual sexual relations. "You made up false allegations," Fishbayn said.
"No," said Bess, who testified via a satellite TV-hookup in court because she cannot leave Boston, where she's attempting to gain legal status.
"This was a lie, wasn't it?" Fishbayn said.
"It was not consensual," said Bess, the daughter of a pastor in St. Vincent, where she and her best friend, Patricia Bailey, grew up.
The women emigrated to Canada together in June, 1998 and both moved in with Bailey's first cousin.
Bess said the August, 1999, incident soured her previously friendly relationship with Dalzell and Bailey grew more distant with him as well.
Dalzell, 33, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the May 1, 2000 death of Bailey, 24, whose naked body was found in the bathtub of her Chalkfarm Dr. apartment. She died of blunt trauma and drowning.
Dalzell's DNA matched semen taken from Bailey's vagina. She was naked except for a T-shirt bunched up around her arms.
JUDGE WARNS JURY
Crown attorney Henry Poon is alleging Bailey was killed in a "sexual assault gone awry."
The jury has already been warned not to use Bess' sexual assault allegation to "leap to the conclusion" that Dalzell is the type of person to commit a violent crime. Dalzell is on trial for murder, not for any other crime, Justice Michael Dambrot said.