A Kingston man told a court Tuesday he deeply regretted not agreeing to accompany his then girlfriend when she asked him several times to accompany her to pick up her belongings at the home of her former employer Michael Haaima in 2017.

“I thought she’d be fine,” the man said. “I just stayed at home and thought she’d be back in 20 or 30 minutes.”

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When his girlfriend told him a couple of days later that Haaima had sexually assaulted her, the boyfriend was remorseful. “It was a gut punch,” he said.

The two broke off their relationship in 2020.

The woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, had testified over several days in August in Kingston’s Superior Court of Justice at Haaima’s trial. A 40-year-old web designer, Haaima has pleaded not guilty to 96 ch

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