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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tA person walks up the stairs of the Law Courts building, which is home to B.C. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal, is seen in Vancouver, on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Ethan Cairns<\/p>\n
Galloway testified he\u2019d had a two-year consensual relationship with the woman known only as A.B., a former student who was older than him, whom he\u2019d met sometime in 2011 when she took a writing course from a colleague of his.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He told the court that he\u2019d learned of the sexual assault allegation while he was in Ohio for an event in November 2015, and spoke with Annabel Lyon, who was acting chair of the creative writing department in his absence.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He says Lyon kept asking if he was suicidal, then police showed up to his hotel room on a report that he was a danger to himself and others, and he was handcuffed and committed to a psychiatric hospital for 72 hours.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept saying to her, \u2018No, I\u2019m fine.\u2019 At one point, I said, \u2018Annabel, don\u2019t worry. I\u2019m way too much of a coward to kill myself,\u2019 and that\u2019s the kind of sense of humour I have.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe next thing I know, there\u2019s a knock on my door, and it\u2019s the police.\u201d<\/p>\n
Galloway said he didn\u2019t know where he was or what was happening, and \u201cthen I got put in the most terrifying place I\u2019ve ever been in my life.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told the court that he believed his relationship with A.B. was marked by \u201centhusiastic ongoing consent,\u201d but was shocked to learn she\u2019d made a formal harassment complaint against him in the months after they ended their affair.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said the woman was texting him \u201cregularly\u201d about social events, and said he was shocked to learn she had made the complaint \u201csimultaneously.\u201d<\/p>\n
Galloway also recounted during his testimony that in 2013, the department was interviewing candidates for a tenured position, and A.B. had alleged that one of the people up for the job had \u201cpulled her into an elevator, groped and choked her.\u201d<\/p>\n
He told the court that she didn\u2019t want to make a formal complaint, but he and two other faculty members had \u201cshamefully\u201d lowered the candidate\u2019s interview scores as a result, and they dropped out of contention for the position.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After A.B. sent an email to the creative writing department and some faculty members in November 2015 alleging administrative failures to deal with sexual violence on campus, Galloway said he believed she was referring to the elevator incident.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He said he phoned her to ask about the email, but she became \u201chostile\u201d and hung up and had been posting on social media \u201carticles about power dynamics and inappropriate relationships in both Canadian literature and university settings.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I just kind of thought, \u2018Oh, jeez, maybe she\u2019s upset about our relationship,’\u201d Galloway said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He testified that while he was not the chair of the program at the time, he was a faculty member, and she was a student, \u201cand I shouldn\u2019t have done it.\u201d<\/p>\n
A.B. is not testifying in the case, citing her mental health.<\/p>\n
Galloway was questioned by his lawyer on Tuesday and has yet to be cross-examined by counsel for the defendants.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Earlier in the hearing on Tuesday, Galloway\u2019s wife testified that her husband was \u201cgutted\u201d after being accused of rape, and became extremely distraught as he repeatedly denied the allegations.\u00a0<\/p>\n