http://www.cbc.ca/canada/toronto/story/2008/04/23/noelle-mowatt.html
Last Updated: Wednesday, April 23, 2008 | 9:02 AM
The Canadian Press
A pregnant young woman was "cold and calculating" when she called 911 to report a beating to get back at her boyfriend following an argument, an Ontario court heard Tuesday.
Noellee Mowatt, 20, also told the court she punched herself in the face and acted like a victim during a taped police interview to get back at her boyfriend Christopher Harbin.
"Your tone that's captured tends to fluctuate from anxiety to quite calm, in my opinion," Harbin's defence lawyer Maurice Mirosolin said while reflecting on the videotaped police statement played in court. "Was that something of an act, to make it sound like you had just been the victim of an assault?"
"Yes," Mowatt replied quietly.
Earlier in the day, however, Mowatt told the court she made the abuse statement after Toronto police Det.-Const. Mandy Morris threatened to "lock her up" for public mischief if she didn't corroborate the 911 call.
Mowatt made the call on Dec. 28, 2007, shortly after Harbin kicked her out of the west Toronto apartment the couple shared, court heard.
"I told her I didn't want to give a statement," Mowatt said of her discussions with Morris, which she said took place in a stairwell at a police station only hours after the alleged assault.
"She was being threatening towards me, and I felt I had to give the statement."
But when pressed by Crown prosecutor Erin McNamara on whether she was motivated by police pressure or an act of "cold and calculating" revenge against her boyfriend, Mowatt replied "both."
Court also heard that Mowatt was angry at Harbin because he was unemployed and spent hours each day viewing online porn — often masturbating in front of her.
The court also heard that Mowatt cut a computer cable with a pair of scissors during a heated argument to spite Harbin.
Injuries self-inflicted
Mowatt told the court that bruises on her cheek were self-inflicted, and that she had punched herself in the bathroom of a Starbucks located across the street from her apartment.
Other injuries, such as a cut on her toe and red marks on her elbows, were caused by chasing Harbin, she said.
"When I was chasing after Chris, I fell and rubbed some skin off," Mowatt said.
Mowatt also told Judge Beverly Brown she called police and the Crown's office "numerous times" to have the charges against Harbin withdrawn in the weeks after the alleged assault, but that she received no response.
Harbin, 25, is facing several charges including assault, assault with a weapon and forcible confinement.
Mowatt's detainment, which lasted more than a week and occurred seven months into her pregnancy when she was still 19 years old, made national headlines and has been criticized by advocates for abused women, who say the incident could prevent other battered women from seeking help in the future.
Mowatt, who came to Canada from Jamaica in 2006, also denied that Harbin and his mother pressured her to retract her statements to police about the alleged abuse.
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