SASKATOON -- A 12-person jury has begun its deliberations in the trial of Cory Smockum.
Smockum, 38, is charged with attempted murder, aggravated sexual assault and choking in connection to an incident involving Adrienne Lennie on Oct. 13, 2018.
The jurors have the option to convict or acquit Smockum on all, or some, of the charges. The jury can also choose the lesser offence of sexual assault for the aggravated sexual assault charge.
The trial lasted five days with testimony from both the accused and victim — each with different accounts of what happened.
‘Only 2 people know what happened in that garage’: Defence
Both agreed they went to a garage to get their ATV, they left there while having drinks at the bar.
Lennie, 30, testified Smockum kicked open the garage door, grabbed her and attacked her inside. Smockum got on top of her, punched her and strangled her out of consciousness three time, she said. Lennie told court her body “went warm” and she made peace with dying that night.
Smockum made her perform oral sex and forced her to pull her pants down for anal sex, she said.
The accused denied the sexual assault, saying that when the two got in the garage, Lennie attacked him first with a hammer.
Smockum said out of self-defence he punched her and “choke-slammed” her to the ground but never made death threats, or tried to kill her.
“Only two people know what happened in that garage. Just two,” defence lawyer Ian Wagner told the jury on Friday morning.
He told jurors there’s no doubt Lennie was wounded, but questioned whether her life was legitimately in danger.
Wagner urged jurors to consider “reasonable doubt” and Smockum’s intent when making their verdict.
“There has to be that intention there,” he told the eight men and four women of the jury.
The Crown argued Smockum intended to kill Lennie.
“You should have absolutely no doubt that he’s guilty of the charges he’s facing,” Crown prosecutor Carla Dewar said.
Dewar said Lennie’s neck injuries were from choking.
During the incident in the garage, Smockum testified his phone was continuously ringing with calls from Lennie’s parents.
Lennie’s mom and step-dad said Smockum told them on the phone that their daughter was going to die that night.
Smockum said the call was a misunderstanding, he told her parents she was “not going to die” — emphasizing “not.”
Smockum said they left the garage on the quad and were headed to Lennie’s mom’s house.
As the two were leaving on the ATV, court heard a pickup truck was pulling in towards the garage.
The defence questioned why Lennie didn’t get off the quad and go to the driver for help.
Lennie said she was afraid of Smockum and he forced her on the quad. She said Smockum was headed to a river where they were both going to die.
Court heard the quad flipped in a field in Hanley.
Lennie testified she ran to a police cruiser. Smockum said he sat on a rail car and was eventually charged.
On Thursday, the judge told jurors to bring their suitcases in case deliberations extend into Saturday.
