Sexual assault victim involving a Sydney fast food restaurant speaks out
A supervisor at a Wendy's restaurant on Welton Street in Sydney, N.S., has pleaded guilty to sexual assault and one of his victims is speaking out about the difficulty of coming forward.
“So, I started there in 2018 and probably three months in, my manager followed me to the freezer and put his hands up my shirt. He has put his hands down my back and gone lower,” says the victim.
The woman, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, is speaking out for the first time on Friday.
She says she was 16 years old when she was working at the restaurant when the incidents first started happening.
“It was reported in 2019 to the manager and HR manager and the owner of the restaurant, but he continued to work there for another year until police investigation was done,” she said.
According to court documents, 25-year-old David Macdonald was charged with five counts of sexual assault involving five different complainants.
He was arrested in August 2020.
“It really was hard to come forward. The police interview was the hardest thing I ever had to do in my life,” added the victim.
This woman and another woman have filed lawsuits against the owner of the Wendy's in Sydney - T-Roy Enterprises Ltd. - alleging the company failed to protect them from a supervisor. The allegations have not been tested in court.
Both plaintiffs were minors when the alleged offences took place in 2018 and 2019 inside the restaurant.
CTV reached out to the company, but did not hear back by news time on Friday. However, in a statement of defence filed in June in one case, the company denied the allegations in the claim.
“Mentally I do have trauma. I do remember the incidents. It was hard to work in a new environment and trust people and know that wasn't going to happen to me again,” said the victim.
According to court documents, Macdonald has pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault and he is scheduled to be sentenced in Sydney on Tuesday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Freddie Mercury's home is on the market for first time since 1980 minus his 'exquisite clutter'
Freddie Mercury's sanctuary in London, where he lived the last decade of his life, is on sale for the first time in nearly half a century -- minus his "exquisite clutter."
'The lost season': Winter comes to a close as Canada's warmest on record
The warmest winter on record could have far-reaching effects on everything from wildfire season to erosion, climatologists say, while offering a preview of what the season could resemble in the not-so-distant future unless steps are taken to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Retired teacher pleads guilty to paying for sex with 15-year-old in Collingwood, Ont.
In a Barrie courtroom on Monday, a retired high school teacher from the Niagara Region pleaded guilty to sexual touching and obtaining sexual services from a 15-year-old boy in Collingwood in 2021.