Man faces trial on torture, rape and kidnapping charges in abduction of Whitmore Lake woman

A Sterling Heights man faces faces trial on nine counts, including torture, criminal sexual conduct and unlawful imprisonment after his former girlfriend's testimony in court Thursday, the Daily Press and Argus reported.

Through tears, the Whitmore Lake woman testified that Brandon Jay Smith, 23, cut her, kidnapped her and raped her during an hours-long ordeal that began New Year's Day outside the Olive Garden Restaurant in Livingston County's Green Oak Township, the newspaper reported.

Brandon Smith

Smith did not testify at the preliminary hearing Wednesday, the article said, but earlier told a psychologist at the state Center for Forensic Psychiatry that the sex was consensual.

Smith faces up to life in prison if convicted.

Smith is accused of driving the woman, who was 21 at the time of the assault to a remote location in Antrim County, where his mother had a camper trailer. Police said the area had experienced a significant accumulation of snow, and the temperature was bitterly cold.

Deputies from the Antrim County Sheriff's Department found Smith and the woman on the property in the early morning hours of Jan. 2.

Police said the woman was suffering from hypothermia and a severe cut that required surgery.

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