Robert Badgerow reveals his sex history in Werendowicz murder trial

Robert Badgerow sat calmly, fielding questions about his sexual history as a single and married man, the bars he frequented and his work at the Dofasco Hot Mill plant as he testified in his own defence Wednesday at the Kitchener Superior Court.

Badgerow is being tried for the fourth time in the precedent-setting first-degree murder trial for the June, 1981 death of Diane Werendowicz of Stoney Creek. 

'Didn't know' her name

Defence lawyer Russell Silverstein asked Badgerow about the night he met Werendowicz in a Hamilton bar.

Badgerow testified he didn't remember going into Malarkey's bar on the evening of June 18, 1981 but he did speak to Werendowicz in the parking lot. He did invite her to his car to smoke a joint, and remembered ending up in the back seat of his car, where they had sex.

Badgerow explained their encounter lasted up to 40 minutes and he never thought about it again – and didn't know her name – until he was arrested and charged with her murder in 1998.

"I didn't know that was the name of the woman that night," he said.

He explained he learned her name in after reading it in the paper and was told by two officers before being arrested in 1998, that he was a suspect.  

'You raped her in the ravine'

Badgerow testified that he had similar encounters with women he met at bars, but this was the first time the intercourse occurred in a car. In other instances, he explained, the sexual encounters happened at a motel or – in one case – a woman's home.

Crown attorney Cheryl Gzik asked Badgerow to repeat his testimony about the events in the back seat of the car. She posed questions of how they ended up in the back seat, if he found Werendowicz's underwear in his car and if he had to clean any stains from the back seat. 

Badgerow appeared to be thrown off balance by Gzik's questioning, and apologized for using foul language when Gzik asked what sexual position was used in the back seat of the vehicle.

Gzik contested his version of events of that evening at Malarkey's bar, suggesting Badgerow had no memory of the night because it never happened that way.

"If a woman thought you were so attractive she would have taken you to her place," stated Gzik.

"You raped her in the ravine. That's where the intercourse happened."

"You're wrong," responded Badgerow.

Phone booth

The jury was shown a map of Hamilton and diagrams of the Dofasco plant where Badgerow worked as a coiler and strapper, physically demanding work. 

Questions zeroed in on the precise location in the plant where Badgerow would have been, and where employees showered after their shift before leaving the facility.

Earlier in the trial, evidence was introduced of a 911 call about the murder, made from a phone booth just outside the plant's Gate 6. The call was made just after noon. Badgerow was working from 7:00 a.m.-3:00 p.m. that day.

Badgerow was asked by his own lawyer point-blank whether he called 911 on June 22, 1981 with information about the body of Werendowicz.

"Do you remember the existence of the [phone] booth?" was Silverstein's question.

"I knew it was there," Badgerow stated.

"Did you ever use that phone booth?" asked the defence lawyer.

"No," answered Badgerow.

Next court: Nov. 21

Justice Patrick Flynn has dismissed the jury until Monday, Nov. 21 when closing arguments will be made.

At that time Flynn will deliver his charge to the jury, which will then retire to render a verdict.