Number 8 of News1130′s Top 10 of 2014

TORONTO (NEWS1130) – It’s been a tumultuous year for the CBC after parting ways with its golden boy amid allegations of physical, sexual and verbal assault.

The sordid story began to unravel on October 24th when the CBC announced Jian Ghomeshi was taking an “undetermined” leave from his job at the public broadcaster “to deal with some personal issues.” Many speculated it had to do with the death of his father, who had passed away three weeks prior.

Ghomeshi took to Twitter assuring his fans he was fine and that he was just taking some “much needed personal time.”

Two days later the CBC shocked the nation, announcing it was indefinitely parting ways with Ghomeshi.

The former broadcaster then took to his Facebook account to tell his side of the story. He admitted to being into rough sex but said it was always consensual. Ghomeshi went on to claim that a jilted ex-girlfriend was threatening to make his private life public and that’s why he had been fired from the CBC, where he had worked for over 14 years. He also announced he would be filing a $55 million lawsuit against his former employer for “breach of confidence and bad faith.” That lawsuit was eventually withdrawn.

The Toronto Star published an explosive article that evening detailing the accounts of three anonymous women who claim they were punched, slapped, bit, choked and verbally assaulted during and after sex with Ghomeshi. Some women also noted a stuffed animal he kept in his house called “Big Ears Teddy.”

It was quickly discovered a Twitter account called ‘Big Ears Teddy’ had been tweeting accusations at and about Ghomeshi since April.

After the article was published, a flood of women added their voices to the story also making similar claims.

Lucy Decotoure was one of them and she says she met Ghomeshi at an event in 2003 and they started corresponding through email.

The pair decided to spend time together.

“When Jian and I were at his place he showed me around and after we were done dinner for a few minutes we started kissing. All of a sudden he choked me and slapped me in the face a few times. It was totally bewildering because I’ve never had anybody slap me in the face before. It’s not a pleasant feeling, to be choked. It came out of nowhere, it was unprovoked,” she describes.

On October 30th, Toronto Police Chief Bill Blair confirmed they were looking into the allegations and urged possible victims to come forward.

Roughly five days later, the CBC announced it had appointed a lawyer to conduct an independent investigation into the possibility Ghomeshi harassed other CBC employees.

Throughout all of this, Ghomeshi was out of sight. Rumours had circulated he was in Los Angeles.

That changed on November 26th when Ghomeshi turned himself in to Toronto Police. He was charged with four counts of sexual assault and one count of overcoming resistance by choking. He was granted $100,000 bail and has been ordered to live with his mother.

After his appearance, his lawyer Marie Heinen announced her client would be pleading not guilty.

His next court date is January 8th, 2015.