Man charged in Courtice sexual assault claims he was carjacked and blacked out

PETERBOROUGH -- Stanley Tippett's wife and a friend of his fiance both showed up to see him at his court appearance Thursday.

Mr. Tippett is charged in connection with the abduction and sexual assault of a 12 year-old-girl in Courtice on Wednesday.

While his wife, who revealed she has five children with the accused, says she loves her husband and will stand by him if she can, the friend of Mr. Tippett's fiance says the 28-year-old woman is expecting a child with him.

Natalie Tippett, who's been married to Mr. Tippett for 12 years, says her husband told her in a telephone call that he was taken at gunpoint.

Police asked her about the call after Mr. Tippett's arrest.

"He said that he was held at gunpoint and he was thrown in the van, his van got stolen, they went on a highway pursuit," Mrs. Tippett says.

"They threw him out of the van and he blacked out, and he was walking along the railway tracks in Bowmanville."

Margaret Cassidy was also at the court for Mr. Tippett's appearance. She says her friend, a 28-year-old woman, is engaged to Mr. Tippett.

"He's engaged to my friend Felicia," she responded when asked how she knows Mr. Tippett.

"He's engaged to her and he's married. That, I just found out... that the wife he has isn't his sister and that's what he's been telling us."

Ms. Cassidy says Mr. Tippett told his fiance that he was carjacked.

She says she's told her friend not to come to court and not to have anything to do with him.

When asked by reporters what she would say to her husband Mrs. Tippett replied: "I love him so much. I wish he'd just be good sometimes."

Mrs. Tippett says she is going to stand by her husband.

"I'm going to try to, but if I can't, I can't," she said.

Mr. Tippett is charged in connection with the abduction of a girl after a birthday party in Peterborough early Wednesday morning.

Police say she was taken to Courtice and sexually assaulted.

It was a scream heard by residents near Courtice Secondary School that prompted calls to police.

A red van fled the scene and Mr. Tippett was later arrested in Manvers Township, west of Peterborough.

A bail hearing is being held today.

-- with reporting by Stefanie Swinson and Jennifer Stone