MacIntosh to testify in sex assault case

Ernest Fenwick MacIntosh will take the witness stand in his own defence on Thursday morning against charges he sexually abused boys in the 1970s.

MacIntosh, 67, is facing two trials on 36 charges, including gross indecency and indecent assault against six boys in eastern Nova Scotia between 1970 and 1977.

Crown prosecutor Diane McGrath said MacIntosh does not have to prove he is innocent. The burden of proof is on the prosecution.

"We have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the events happened as described by the complainants. Back in that time frame, the age of consent was 14. However, regardless of their ages, I think their evidence has been quite clear that they did not consent to any of the activity that occurred with Mr. MacIntosh."

The prosecution had seven witnesses, three of them men who say MacIntosh performed oral sex on them when they were younger than 12.

On Monday, a 48-year-old Guysborough County man testified that MacIntosh abused him about 100 times. The man said when he was about 10 years old, MacIntosh became a family friend. He said that roughhousing and tickling eventually turned into fondling.

The man, whose identity is protected by court order, said that MacIntosh would routinely perform oral sex on him.

On Tuesday, the man's younger brother testified that MacIntosh removed his pants and performed oral sex on him in three separate incidents in the 1970s when he was between the ages of nine and 12.

The case is being heard by in a Port Hawkesbury courtroom by a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge sitting alone.

The first charges against MacIntosh were laid in 1995, but he wasn't arrested until 12 years later, because he had moved to India a year before the first charge was laid.

MacIntosh was arrested in April 2007 near New Delhi, where he worked as a telecommunications specialist for 13 years. He was extradited to Canada two months later.