With memories of dangerous past encounters with prostitutes in mind, investment broker Jim Whitehouse bolted his company offices leaving an angry prostitute behind, he said yesterday.

"This woman was extremely hostile, aggressive," Whitehouse told lawyer Jim Rooney, who acts for RBC Dominion Securities, the witness' former employer.

"I'd encountered hookers with knives before," said Whitehouse, who is suing for wrongful dismissal after he was fired for bringing a prostitute into the office after hours and leaving her there.

Whitehouse, 51, is seeking more than $3.5 million in damages, while RBC has countersued, saying his conduct sullied the company's reputation and cost it business.

During his cross-examination of the plaintiff, Rooney asked Whitehouse why he chose to take a prostitute to his office after getting drunk instead of going to a hotel.

"I had been involved in situations like that on numerous occasions and I had put myself in dangerous situations," Whitehouse said, as his wife Verna sat listening to his testimony.

"I might have had some fears, some anxieties about Cassandra in particular, I made a decision to go to the office," he said of the Jan. 20, 2004 incident.

Whitehouse admitted taking Stolarchuk to RBC's secure premises for the purpose of having sex, but changed his mind when she demanded $200 or $300.

This is cache, read story here