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The wife of former University of British Columbia professor Steven Galloway was the first witness to testify on day one of the defamation trial against four defendants he says falsely accused him of sexual assault.
Katie Wager told the court that Galloway was at a speaking engagement in Ohio in late 2015 when he first became aware of the accusation. Wagner said when she arrived in Ohio to support him, he was in a hospital on 72-hour suicide watch.
“He was in a hospital gown, he was upset, crying, shaking. He knew there was an accusation of sexual assault but of course he hadn’t sexually assaulted anyone so there was a lot of us trying to figure out what was going on.”
Galloway’s accuser is a former student, “AB”, who is the main defendant in the lawsuit. Others named as defendants are alleged to have spread the sexual assault claim, including on social media.
Galloway, a best selling Canadian author, was never charged, though he was fired from his job as a tenured professor and chair of the UBC creative writing department.
A report by retired B.C. Supreme Court judge Mary Ellen Boyd commissioned by UBC concluded the claims against Galloway were unsubstantiated. After arbitration, he was awarded over $240,000 in damages from the university.
Wagner said Boyd’s report only served to spark a ”mob of people online” to repeat the accusations.
‘Never going to be an end’
“There would be a flurry on Twitter — which was such a big thing,” said Wagner. “I think there was a sense at that point… that there was never going to be an end to it.”
Wagner testified that the accusations and resulting firestorm has been hard on their four children, finances, and life in general.
She said Galloway became extremely withdrawn and at one point she found him trying to hang himself with a rope. She also recounted strictly controlling his medications for fear he would intentionally overdose.
Galloway sued numerous people for defamation in 2018. His accusers fought the case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, claiming their accusations were protected speech.
The high court refused to hear the case, after a lower court said that if the defendants’ arguments held, “there would be no legal consequences of any kind” to publicly calling someone a rapist.
UBC first suspended, then fired Galloway after the allegations against him were publicized. (Christer Waara/CBC)
At least nine of the defendants have settled out of court or issued apologies, including author Chelsea Rooney, whose lengthy statement of apology was published this past weekend.
Galloway is the author of novels including The Cellist of Sarajevo and The Confabulist. His lawyer said he is seeking special damages to account for Galloway’s former standing as a star in the literary world who had his career cut short.
AB has asked the court to keep her identity confidential over concerns an “online mob” would be unleashed against her.
Her counsel told the court that AB has attempted suicide. He said while news stories published about the case haven’t revealed her identity, people have named her in the comment sections under the articles.
The trial was originally scheduled for 60 days, but with fewer defendants, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Neena Sharma said it will likely take 20 days.
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