James Duncan Keats says sexual encounter was consensual

A paramedic accused of sexually assaulting a 71-year-old woman told police he had a consensual sexual encounter with her, but said he didn't remember having sexual intercourse.

James Duncan Keats is on trial in Windsor, N.S., for allegedly assaulting the woman twice: once in her home and another time during an ambulance ride to hospital.

The court is viewing video of an interrogation RCMP conducted after they arrested Keats in May 2013.

Keats's lawyer is challenging the admissibility of this statement, so Judge Claudine MacDonald is viewing the video and will hear from witnesses before deciding whether the statement can be used as evidence.

After the initial interview concluded, Keats told police he wanted to talk again.

“I can’t handle the fact that people think I did something wrong,” he said.

At the RCMP Enfield detachment, he spoke to police. The interview was recorded and Keats was told that. He was also told it could be shown in court.

​Keats said he told his partner he was going to take the woman upstairs while the husband was being treated. He said she struggled with her breathing, and he listened to her chest with a stethoscope.

“You’re 70 years old and you still have beautiful breasts,” Keats said.

Keats says the woman told him it had been “so long” since she’d been touched in that manner. Keats claimed she touched his groin “and I was kind of stunned.” He said he “stupidly” didn't walk out of the room, and that the woman “asked if she could see it.”

Keats took his penis out.

He began sobbing at this point of the interview. He claimed the woman touched him, then herself, and “described things that she liked.”

Feeling warm, he removed his jacket. He felt nervous when his partner came upstairs, but he denied closing the bedroom door.

'I’m going to pay for all this'

In heavy tears, Keats told police: “I didn’t want to tell you. I didn’t want to tell anyone. It’s not her fault.”

After being reassured by the police officer, he continued. “I’m not some sick predator. I don’t want her to think she did anything wrong. I’m going to pay for all this. I’m screwed. I’m not a bad person,” he said.

“I’m just terrified now. I’m just afraid now and I’m just waiting for someone else to say I did something worse. My life is over.”

He denied having intercourse with the woman. The police officer briefly left the interview room.

In the courtroom, Keats stared straight at his own image on the tape.

When the officer returned, Keats told him he had ejaculated during the encounter. “I didn’t know what to do. I needed a tissue or towel because obviously I’d made a mess,” he said.

He denied performing oral sex on her, which is what the woman told police had happened. The woman further told police that he had non-consensual intercourse with her.

Asked about that, Keats told police that “I honestly don’t remember.”

At this point the interview was in its seventh hour and Keats was speaking to his third police interrogator.

Police pressed him on her claims he had forced sex on her and, after repeatedly denying that, he said: “Anything is possible. I don’t recall putting my penis in her vagina.”

Eight-hour interview

The court must view the eight-hour interview it in real time, in its entirety — including long stretches when police leave Keats alone in the interview room.

During Thursday's session, the video started to skip, causing MacDonald to voice concerns that something might be missed. When the problem continued, the judge decided to adjourn court and attempt to complete viewing of the video Friday.

Keats has been suspended as a paramedic while this case and others are in court.

Final arguments on the video issue won't be heard until next month. Since these charges were laid, five other women have come forward to make similar allegations against Keats.

Their matters aren't scheduled to be heard until 2015.

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