Firefighter gave her to others for sex, victim testifies

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This article was published 29/05/2020 (1969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After pushing her to have sex with three strangers, Manuel Ruiz locked his then-girlfriend inside his bedroom for more than eight hours before releasing her, a judge was told Friday.

“It was like I was on a time-out,” the 35-year-old woman testified.

Ruiz, a 54-year-old Winnipeg firefighter and martial arts instructor, is on trial accused of sexually assaulting two women. The identities of both alleged victims are protected by a publication ban.

The woman who testified Friday said she was just shy of her 18th birthday when she met Ruiz for the first time outside his Sherbrook Street jiu-jitsu studio. Ruiz encouraged her to take classes at the studio, which she did after she turned 18, she told court.

The woman said she was initially “leery” of the “very flirty” older man, but the two started dating just two months after she started classes at his studio.

“It was positive at the beginning,” she said.

But the relationship took a dark turn following an incident at the jiu-jitsu studio, she said.

Ruiz and the woman had just finished having sex in a back room when Ruiz left the room and she heard “some shuffling” outside. Ruiz returned and told her “You’ll do this if you love me.” Ruiz left the room again and was replaced by three men who told the woman she was to have sex with them.

“I was scared, so I did it,” she said. “I didn’t want to have sex with other people. I didn’t know who they were.”

The woman said she and Ruiz went back to his Maryland Street home where he locked her inside his bedroom for eight to 10 hours — something he would go on to do seven more times following arguments.

Left alone in the windowless room, she had to pee in a cup, she said.

When he finally released her, Ruiz gave her $80 — $20 for each man, including Ruiz, she had sex with, the woman said.

“I was disgusted with him, but I was also scared of him. He’s a fifth degree black belt and he can get scary when he’s mad,” she said.

After that, sex was no longer consensual, but a “duty,” the woman said with Ruiz becoming increasingly aggressive and often putting her in jiu-jitsu holds during sex.

The woman, who admitted to a longtime addiction to drugs and alcohol, was frequently uncertain about the sequence of events, first telling court she moved in with Ruiz within months of meeting him in 2003, later insisting under cross examination that they didn’t live together until 2006.

“My mind is foggy because of drug use,” she said.

The woman said she and Ruiz lived together for no more than six months before she moved out, but continued to see each other and have sex. Ruiz often supplied her with money, which she would spend on alcohol and drugs, she said.

“He would come and pick me up especially when I was drunk or high, because he knew he could take advantage of me,” she said.

The woman said she was visiting Ruiz at his home in 2009 when she agreed to a massage.

“He started aggressively having sex with me,” she said. “He didn’t even ask me if I wanted to — he just did it. And when he was done he threw 40 bucks at me.

“I walked out of the building, he didn’t even give me a ride home,” she said. “I never saw him again.”

The trial resumes Monday.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca