Cross-examination of a complainant in the trial of Copperbelt MLA Haakon Arntzen was to get underway this morning in Yukon Supreme Court.

Arntzen pleaded not guilty to four charges of indecent assault on Monday. Another charge of assault was withdrawn by the Crown.

The incidents are alleged to have happened between 1974 and 1980.

One of the two complainants in the case took the stand Monday afternoon. A publication ban prevents identifying the pair.

Under questioning by Crown prosecutor John Phelps, the complainant told the court the first case she remembers happened when she was at a gathering in Haines Junction when she was in Grade 3 or 4. She said she was in the basement of a house when Arntzen came down the stairs.

Arntzen pulled her nightgown up to around her neck and had his hands on her, she testified.

'His hands were all over me,' she told the court.

When Phelps questioned the 41-year-old woman for more details on where Arntzen had placed his hands, she said he touched between her legs.

She also made a gesture with her arms. Phelps asked her what she meant with the gesture.

She told the court she was referring to him touching her chest. He also had his hands on her back and neck during the confrontation, which may have lasted 10 minutes until an adult came part way down the stairs, she testified.

A few years later, the complainant told the court, there were numerous incidents which took place over a number of years.

'He'd ground himself against me,' she said.

Asked by Phelps how often it happened, she replied, 'Too often to count.'

He also made constant comments on her development and appearance, she said. Everything seemed to be sexualized in some way, she added.

She also spoke of Arntzen being violent, twisting her arm on a number of occasions.

She explained one instance where she was running down the street to get away from Arntzen when he came after her in a car. When he caught up to her, she said, he twisted her arm behind her back and shoved her into the vehicle.

The complainant said she had been running to get away from him after he had pinned her against a wall, pushing his groin against her and making sexual comments.

She told the court she was eventually able to get away and run down the street, only to have Arntzen grab her and get her in the car.

As they were driving, she said, he told her that she'd better not say anything about what happened.

After she told the court about her encounters with Arntzen, Phelps asked if she recalled any incidents between Arntzen and others she knew.

She told the court of one time where she and another girl were sharing a bed. She said she woke up to the other girl squirming and Arntzen trying to get at the other girl.

'I believe I said, Get the fk out,' she said, noting Arntzen left after that.

The complainant said she didn't report the alleged incidents to the authorities earlier because she was fairly ignorant about what she could do about them.

'I didn't really think that was an option,' she said. 'I don't know why.'

Whitehorse RCMP first became involved in January 2003, Const. Jeffrey McCracken told the court. He appeared as the first witness.

McCracken served as the lead officer in the case. It was in January 2003 that one of the complainants contacted him to find out what options she could take. She was referred to territorial victim services personnel.

As the case progressed, McCracken also spoke to another complainant, who he also referred to victim services staff.

A victim statement was taken from the second complainant. The first complainant who came forward looking for options made a witness statement related to the victim statement taken then.

'They are completely different,' McCracken said of the two statements.

A victim statement comes from the complainant while a witness statement comes from witnesses to an alleged incident.

McCracken would later take a victim statement from the other complainant.

In early 2004, a decision was made to proceed with charges. They were laid earlier than planned due to a media leak and pressure from RCMP management, McCracken told the court.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel Ed Horembala, McCracken said the management pressure came after a meeting with a victim services worker.

Horembala played a video tape showing one of the complainants referring to notes which she said were 'little reminders' in a statement to McCracken.

Another matter Horembala questioned McCracken on was the fact the two complainants and two victim services workers met together at one point. McCracken told the court the RCMP advised that those types of meetings shouldn't occur.

Arntzen was elected as a Yukon Party MLA in the November 2002 election.

Shortly after the charges were laid in 2004, he left that party's caucus to sit as an independent across from the government in the legislature.

Justice Leigh Gower is hearing the case.