The accused man denied he’d touched the complainants breasts during treatment, as they’d described.
Some of the answers Ruben Adam Manz provided to his lawyer were complicated.
He gave explanations about what ailments brought patients to his office, what his diagnoses were, and what techniques he used to treat them. All were heavily laden with medical terms.
However, some of his answers were simple and could be summarized with one word.
No.
Manz stands accused of seven counts of sexual assault against seven complainants said to be former patients. None can be identified due to a court-imposed publication ban standard in sexual assault cases.
Manz took the stand in Regina’s Court of King’s Bench on Thursday afternoon. By a mid-day break Friday, he had been asked by his lawyer about five of seven complainants.
Taking him through a list of the complainants, defence lawyer Kathy Hodgson-Smith asked him if he’d touched their breasts while treating them, as they’d testified.
“No,” he repeatedly responded.
Further, he explained multiple times how doing so would be “impossible” while still effectively performing stretches of the neck that rest at the heart of the allegations. His testimony included medical explanations for why such stretching would’ve been used on each complainant.
Was it possible that he was doing the stretch ineffectively?
No, because the patients “got better” as a result of performing it, he told his lawyer.
Responding to an allegation that his finger rested a “fingernail width” from one of the complainant’s nipples, he said: “I just do not see how that’s physically possible.”
“I have small hands. They don’t reach that far.”
Manz simply couldn’t reach down that far without taking a hand off the patient’s shoulder, he said.
Manz testified that, during the stretch, his fingers on a hand supporting the shoulder would only extend to just below the collarbone.
In video presented to court of Manz performing the stretch on a female colleague from his office, his hand appeared to be positioned as described in his testimony.
Had he used his power as a chiropractor to take advantage of the complaints for a sexual purpose?
Again, the chiropractor responded “no” in each case.
His testimony began Thursday afternoon and stopped briefly when he broke down emotionally after being asked to tell the court about his family. However, he continued following a break.
The defence lawyer’s examination-in-chief included questions about consent. In addition to having completed consent forms, Manz believed he had consent to perform the stretches he did, and denied that any of the complainants had withdrawn their consent.
While most patients would say something to withdraw consent, he said a patient doesn’t always have to do so verbally. He said a person’s body language can indicate when they are not comfortable.
While a number of complainants testified they’d had physical reactions to the touching at issue — a stiffening, a caving-in of the chest — Manz denied noticing any such signs of discomfort, when asked by his lawyer.
He said he has special practices for treatment requiring him to touch “sensitive” areas, describing the tailbone, or an area near the centre of the chest.
With regard to these areas, Manz said he would be specific about where he was planning to touch and ask patients if they were comfortable proceeding.
However, he explained that during the stretches at issue in this trial, he would only be touching the “upper chest,” and he said there is no special consent policy for that area.
Manz said he would not pull upward during the stretch as some complainants described feeling, though he acknowledged its possible that his “gripping” could be interpreted as pulling.
He said after a complaint was lodged against him, he stopped performing the stretch at issue on new patients.
However, he continued to do so on returning patients.
The trial was scheduled to continue Friday afternoon and is expected to resume the following week. As of press time, the Crown had not yet had the opportunity to question the accused man.
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