By Jane Sims
London Free Press
October 25, 2011
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/10/25/18875961.html
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When Royden Wood was depressed, he said he'd pull away from people.
But when he was on a high, he had a "very exciting life," he testified at his London sexual assault trial.
But the former pastor denies his bipolar life included touching the female congregants of the Ambassador Baptist Church and having sex with them under the guise of marriage counselling.
He says he didn't touch their breasts and private parts. He didn't initiate sexual contact or have sex with them.
But he said his mental disorder, diagnosed a few years ago, plagued him throughout his pastorship at the church.
"I didn't know I was bipolar," he said. "I just knew I struggled a lot with my feelings."
Each of the five women who've testified at the bizarre sex assault trial, which has given the public a peek at life inside the Ambassador, has a grudge against him, he said, whether it's a lawsuit or desire to move the now-defunct church in a more liberal direction.
Wood, 62, chose not to swear on the Bible before his testimony -- many conservative Christians choose not to.
He spoke with a noticeable shake to his body.
"It's caused by one of the medications I take," he said through defence lawyer Alison Craig, adding he's had "temporal lobe epilepsy" for many years.
He told the jury he's been married to his wife Linda for 39 years and has six kids. He was a Toronto police officer for two years after high school. He left the force abruptly when he found how "terrified" his wife was about him in policing.
He went to bible college but never graduated, opting to start his own church that would welcome homeless and low-income.
Wood's church began in his living room on Lorne Ave. with six people in 1982 and grew to 300 at the corner of King and Adelaide streets. The family later moved to West Lorne.
Wood was main preacher and offered three services a week and programs for kids and adults.
He was asked by assistant Crown attorney Peter Rollings how his mental illness might show up at church. Wood said he recalled preaching before the church had air-conditioning and said he could run all over the auditorium and keep talking.
He fell into the baptistry when his hand slipped near a window. He got out of the water and kept on preaching.
All five women said they had back problems.
Wood testified he gave back and neck treatments based on what he read when treating his son. He said none involved the removal of clothing.
Craig asked Wood to describe his relationship with each woman. Wood's descriptions were long and detailed, with each one having different issues with their former pastor.
One had problems because she believed her husband's efforts at the church weren't appreciated. She and her husband have launched a lawsuit.
Wood acknowledged he once preached that birth control pills caused abortions, until he was corrected by one of the women.
But he denied all allegations of sex with the women. Craig listed each sexual touch described at trial -- from naked back rubs to full-blown sex -- and asked Wood if he did them.
His answer was "no."
"I don't know what a milk duct is," he said when asked if he squeezed breasts and milk ducts to remove toxins.
At one point, he called the allegations "ridiculous," given his position in the church.
The jury also heard the Crown's last witness, a 51-year old woman who described sex acts with Wood in 1995. She said she continued a flirtatious relationship with the pastor until 2007. Wood's cross-examination continues Wednesday.
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