How did a Halifax police investigation into a woman's rape go so wrong?
Maggie Rahr · for CBC News
In May 2018, Carrie Low reported to Halifax police that she'd been raped. Lawyers representing her say police systematically mishandled her case. (Photo illustration by Dave Irish/CBC)
Carrie Low gives the impression of a reference librarian, peering above glasses as she carefully runs her finger along a printed list, the top page in a thick stack of documents.
The 42-year-old Halifax-area woman is reading through the exhaustive notes she's kept of a criminal investigation — every call, meeting with officers and email exchange is logged, next to a timestamp and date.
It's the record of what her legal team now considers a deeply flawed 18-month police investigation into her rape.
On Monday, lawyers representing Low from the Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia will argue in court that Halifax Regional Police systematically mishandled her case over a year and a half.
"She did all the right things," says Emma Halpern, executive director of the local chapter of Elizabeth Fry, which advocates for women who are incarcerated and for victims of violence.
"There is significant information that she's been able to provide. And yet nothing has moved forward. It leaves us questioning why and really struggling to understand how this has gone so wrong."
They list a series of failures. Low's file was bounced between a half-dozen officers. There was so much confusion that at least three times she was told to direct her questions to a different investigator.
Police never visited the scene of the crime, even though she provided clear details of the location. The case was hampered by lengthy toxicology paperwork delays and poor communication.
Elizabeth Fry has applied for a judicial review. It wants a Nova Scotia Supreme Court judge to order the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner to investigate Low's complaint against police, something it has refused to do because she filed it outside the six-month statute of limitations.
Halifax Regional Police refused this week to comment on the case, saying in an email they are unable do so because it is an open investigation.
In May 2018, Low was enjoying an unremarkable night out, over a couple drinks with a few friends, at a neighbourhood bar in Dartmouth, N.S. The events she says that followed — a drink spiked with drugs, a kidnapping and then a violent hours-long rape by two men — would make the day-to-day experience of living a torment.
Low's last moment of absolute clarity is inside the bar. She suspects she walked out at some point, possibly to vape. Her friends did not witness what happened next.
"My next memory is a flash of being back down in the backseat of a car and someone on top of me," she recalls.
Then, the next flash: "I'm squished up against a door and the car is full of people and I'm trying to get out of the car.
"I kept hearing the clicking of the door lock and they wouldn't ... I was asking to get out and they wouldn't let me out."
'I remember crying'
The sequences of the hours appear in nightmarish flashes. She was trapped.
"My next memory, I'm lying face down on a mattress and someone from behind is having sex with me. And I remember crying and asking to stop, that it hurt."
She blacked out again. "And then my next memory is I'm on my back and it's a different person."
Low surmises she then lost consciousness again. When she woke, some of her clothing was missing.
"The next thing I know is I wake up in an old, dingy camper. I don't know where I am."
She fled, wearing only one shoe. She asked a stranger outside to call her a taxi, and he did. By now it was morning. She was a 30-minute drive from Dartmouth.
The Elizabeth Fry Society says Halifax Regional Police systematically mishandled Low's case.
(Paul Poirier/CBC)
In shock, she returned home and did the only thing she could think to do: she kept her schedule, and went to the soccer game of her high school-aged daughter, the youngest of her three children and the only one still remaining at home.
Immediately after the game, a friend drove Low to the emergency department of the Dartmouth General Hospital, where a sexual assault nurse examiner conducted an exam and collected a rape kit.
Low recalls clearly an option on the consent form to select whether or not to immediately involve police. She was certain. She'd been raped once before in her early 20s.
"I have had things happen in the past. I didn't talk about it. I didn't have police involved. I didn't tell anyone and I lived with that — I'm still living with that."
There happened to be an officer on duty at the hospital that morning, and Low agreed to speak with him. But when he began questioning her about the events of the previous night, the nurse who'd received her pulled the curtain back.
"You shouldn't be doing that," Low recalls the nurse telling the police officer. "You don't question her here, that happens at the station."
When the officer became defensive, Low says the nurse shot back: "I've done 500 rape kits. This isn't how it's done."
A friend took Low to the Dartmouth General Hospital. (Paul Poirier/CBC)
The officer stopped questioning Low and gave her an evidence bag to gather and seal her clothing in. He promised that someone would come to her home to collect it that evening. But no one ever showed up.
Low called the next day — 7:53 p.m., according to the notes she kept of each interaction with police. It was Victoria Day weekend, and the officer on the line informed her that no one would be able to collect the evidence, or even contact her, until at least Tuesday.
It would be 10 days before officers came to collect her clothing. An investigator would later apologize for the delay.
But this was only the beginning of Low's troubles.
There is much more on this exasperating story of callous incompetence. It can be found here.
Halifax Regional District, Nova Scotia
Kaillie Humphries sues Bobsleigh Canada,
prepares to compete for U.S.
She doesn't explain what happened, only that
she was expected to work in an unsafe environment
Devin Heroux · CBC Sports
Bobsledder Kaillie Humphries filed a harassment complaint with Bobsleigh Canada more than a year ago. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)
One of Canada's most decorated Olympians is in the final stages of leaving Team Canada to compete for the United States.
Kaillie Humphries says it's become clear Bobsleigh Canada no longer wants her competing for the team and has asked to be released. This comes more than a year after Humphries filed a harassment complaint (4th story on link) with the national sport organization.
However, the 34-year-old from Calgary claims she's been waiting to be released from Bobsleigh Canada for weeks, so that she can begin training for the U.S. Team — and she can't wait any longer.
"I want to say 'thank you' to Canada, who has been a huge support. It's really hard. It's hard. This has been my life," Humphries told CBC Sports.
"This has been a 15-year career. It's been everything I've dreamed of since I was a kid. To know that a country has supported me so strongly and the people in the country have been so great — that I have to either consider being forcefully retired and having somebody else dictate what happens to my career."
Humphries is suing the national governing body for blocking her release from the team and breaching their contract relating to athlete and coach code of conduct.
Last August, Humphries filed a harassment complaint with Bobsleigh Canada, telling CBC in January she was in "a position where my workplace environment was impaired and I couldn't compete."
Humphries has been waiting for more than a year for the national sport organization to complete its internal investigation.
Ottawa city councillor asked job applicant about
going braless, woman alleges
Joanne Chianello · CBC News
Ottawa Coun. Rick Chiarelli, pictured here in August 2017, has been accused of posing inappropriate questions during a job interview to a woman seeking employment at city hall. (CBC)
A woman has filed a formal complaint with Ottawa's integrity commissioner alleging a city councillor asked her inappropriate questions of a sexual nature during a job interview, including whether she was comfortable not wearing a bra to work events.
The woman told CBC that during the interview at a Starbucks one Sunday afternoon in late June, Coun. Rick Chiarelli asked her if she would be open to wearing costumes to events such as Ottawa Comiccon, an annual comic book convention.
I just couldn't believe this was happening.
I just kept thinking, it's 2019, how is this possible?
- Complainant
The woman alleged Chiarelli then showed her a photo on his cellphone of a former employee dressed up in a revealing costume that she had worn to the popular event.
She said the councillor for College ward then asked her, "What would you not wear?" When she asked what he meant by that, she said Chiarelli responded: "Well, would you go braless?"
The woman said she was stunned by the request and told Chiarelli she was not comfortable with the suggestion.
Councillor showed her photo
The woman said the councillor then showed her a different cellphone picture of a woman in a low-cut T-shirt with a Canada logo on it. The photo was taken from the side, "and you could see [the woman's] torso and you could clearly see that she was not wearing a bra," the woman told CBC.
CBC has agreed not to name the complainant because of her concern that she would have trouble finding employment in the future if she's identified publicly. She was also concerned she'd face a backlash, especially on social media.
CBC has not revealed the woman's name to Chiarelli, but has provided the councillor with identifying details including the date, place and general time of the interview, as well as the details of her allegations.
CBC has spoken with six other employees and former employees who worked in Chiarelli's office, five of whom say they've heard the councillor make inappropriate comments in the workplace. Two told CBC Chiarelli also mentioned not wearing a bra to them.
Just last week the Mayor of Ottawa came out as being gay! One wonders what the priorities are in Ottawa City meetings?
Dental hygienist loses licence as 'sexual abuser'
for treating his wife in Toronto
BY COLIN PERKEL, THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — A dental hygienist stripped of his licence as a sexual abuser because he treated his wife has lost his bid to have the punishment overturned.
Ontario’s Divisional Court decision upholding the “harsh” punishment for Alexandru Tanase comes even though regulators have proposed allowing hygienists to treat spouses as dentists may do.
“There is no other case of any dental hygienist anywhere in Canada who has been found guilty of sexual abuse for treating his wife,” the court said in its ruling. “It is indeed unfortunate that the (discipline committee) elected to proceed with the complaint.”
A disciplinary hearing arose after a complaint to the College of Dental Hygienists of Ontario from a colleague, who had spotted a June 2016 Facebook post from Tanase’s grateful wife, identified as S.M., about the care he had provided her.
Evidence before the discipline committee was that S.M. feared dental treatment and had had no care for several years when she became platonic friends with Tanase in 2012. He soon provided her with free in-office treatment.
In mid-2014, court records show, they became romantically involved and he stopped treating her because of the blanket ban on sexual relations between health-care professionals and their patients. The province enacted the zero-tolerance policy in 1993 to protect patients from exploitation. Consent is irrelevant.
While working at a clinic in Guelph, Ont., a colleague told Tanase that dental hygienists were allowed to treat their spouses. In fact, the college approved a spousal exemption in September 2015 but the legislature never adopted the rule — as it has done for dentists.
Based on his erroneous understanding of the law, Tanase began again treating his otherwise treatment-averse fiancee, and continued doing so after they married in early 2016.
The discipline committee ruled it had no choice but to find Tanase had violated the ban on sexual relations with a patient — even though the patient was his spouse and the sex consensual — and therefore subject to mandatory licence revocation.
“You have paid a heavy price,” the committee said. “We sincerely hope to see you again as an active member of the dental hygiene profession.”
Tanase appealed to the courts, arguing the law violated his constitutional rights.
In its ruling, the Divisional Court panel said Tanase posed no danger to the public, and expressed sympathy for the couple given that he cannot practise for at least five years.
The panel noted a previous case in which the college took no action against a female hygienist who treated her husband in light of their pre-existing spousal relationship and questioned why the Tanase complaint had gone forward. The court also said it seemed unfair that dentists can treat their spouses but hygienists can’t.
Nevertheless, the panel ruled the licence revocation as a “sexual abuser” and “stigma” of having details of his discipline posted on the college’s public website were constitutional and did not amount to cruel or unusual punishment. Current law and previous legal decisions upholding the validity of the sex ban and mandatory punishment for a violation had tied its hands, the court said.
“Unless and until the Ontario government approves the regulation put forward by the College of Dental Hygienists to enact a spousal exemption, the mandatory revocation and ancillary relief imposed by the discipline committee as they pertain to spouses must be upheld,” the panel said.
Good grief!
Man protests outside Welland, Ont, church for 1 year
on behalf of sex abuse survivors
CBC News
Warning: This story contains details of sexual assault.
William O'Sullivan has protested in front of St. Kevin's Parish in Welland every Sunday for a full year, and says he is determined to do so until the Diocese of St. Catharines apologizes to the region's survivors of sexual abuse.
O'Sullivan is one of these survivors. He was sexually assaulted when he was nine years old by Donald Grecco, who was a priest at St. Kevin's Catholic church.
The assault continued for three years.
Now 48, O'Sullivan stands in front of the church every Sunday morning holding protest signs. He arrives at 8 a.m. and leaves in the early afternoon.
The church sits on Niagara Street, which is often busy with heavy traffic. Cars honk their horns as they pass, and people stop by with food, coffee, and words of encouragement to keep O'Sullivan going.
"There's more and more support coming my way because people know this isn't a one off," O'Sullivan said. "I'm here for the long haul."
Justin Larson lives in the area and goes to church every Sunday at St. Kevin's parish. He said he's gotten used to the honking and supports O'Sullivan.
"We all want it (child sex abuse) to stop. It has no place in our church," he said. "[O'Sullivan] is doing a good thing."
O'Sullivan said that while some people are supportive of his protest, others will gesture with their middle fingers at him. (Colin Côté-Paulette)
O'Sullivan has also filed a $3.1 million civil lawsuit against Grecco, the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Catharines, the Roman Catholic Church, the province of Ontario and the brothers of the Christian Schools of Ontario.
In a letter obtained by CBC from the Bishop of St. Catharines, Gerard Paul Bergie, to the parishioners of St. Kevin's Parish, Bergie acknowledged that he met O'Sullivan to speak on Sept. 14 (2018). This was the first day that O'Sullivan began his protests.
In the November letter, Bergie said that it was still his "intention" to have a personal conversation with O'Sullivan, but he has been prohibited from meeting with him due to the lawsuit.
The Diocese of St. Catharines declined an interview with CBC because this lawsuit is still before the court.
Lifted publication ban to encourage other survivors
O'Sullivan told CBC that he wanted people to know his name as a way to help other survivors. In the case with Grecco, he had asked the court to lift the publication ban that kept his identity a secret to encourage survivors to come forward.
Grecco received his first conviction for sexual assault in 2010, when he was sentenced for sexually abusing three youths. O'Sullivan said he remembered reading an article about it, and was inspired by the survivors to share his story.
In 2017, Grecco was convicted again for sexually assaulting three others, which included O'Sullivan.
In April 2018, after serving six months of an 18-month sentence, Grecco was released on parole. O'Sullivan said this was a frustrating moment, but that he has since accepted the outcome.
That's Canadian 'justice'. The welfare of the criminal comes first, the victims and potential victims are rarely thought of.
"[Grecco's release] was a very bitter pill to swallow," he said. "But I understand the correctional system and I understand that he's not a threat to society now."
O'Sullivan also told CBC that he wanted people to know about his journey, which included arrests over the years and a struggle with drug addiction. He said the trauma he experienced early in life played a factor in his choices.
Typical effects of child sex abuse, and there are dozens more.
He said standing in front of the church each week gives him the chance to do some good.
But while Sullivan calls the support he gets "unbelievable," he said not everyone agrees with his protest. He told CBC about a man who followed him around, kicked his signs, and called him a liar.
"There's some that go by, you'll see them, they'll do the sign of the cross like people do in front of the church... and then they'll shoot me the finger," he said. "Good, bad, or indifferent — they know I'm here."
They would be 'good' Catholics, I guess.
O'Sullivan said he tries not to get angry, and continues to share his story so that others know they are not alone. He said that other sexual assault survivors will come by and speak to him in front of the church. He wants them and others to know that he is always available to help.
"There's always hope. In your darkest time there's always hope," he said. "There's always somebody like me there who will be willing to talk [with you]."
O'Sullivan said that he'll continue the weekly protest until an apology is given. "They have my word I'll stop," he said. "My word [is] my bond. It's all I got."
Tecumseh, Ont. doctor loses license after
sexual abuse of patient
CBC News
A Tecumseh, Ont. doctor has had his license revoked and must reimburse the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario for the costs of the proceedings, as well as reimburse the College for funding provided to a patient after a year-long discipline process.
At a July 2018 hearing, the CPSO found that Dr. Haider Hasnain had committed an act of professional misconduct by engaging in sexual abuse of patient, as well as engaging in conduct regarded as disgraceful, dishonourable or unprofessional.
According to the College, in 2009, Hasnain entered into a consensual sexual relationship with a patient he often saw at the walk-in clinic where he practiced. According to the College's committee assigned to the case, since the sexual relationship and the physician patient relationship were concurrent, sexual abuse had been proven.
During the course of this relationship, the College's statement of facts from the recent discipline hearing say prescriptions were provided without accompanying chart or OHIP (Ont Health Insurance Plan) entrees.
Due to both improper charting and the sexual abuse findings, the committee required Hasnain be reprimanded before the panel and his certificate of registration be revoked. Those decisions were enacted as of Monday.
Hasnain must also pay about $16,000 to the College for funding provided to the patient, and must pay $20,550 to the College for the costs of the hearing and decision process.
Those funds must be paid within 60 days.
Flin Flon, Manitoba, man faces sex assault charges
in 11 offences involving kids
CBC News
A Flin Flon man is facing charges in connection with sexual assaults involving two men when they were kids.
Daniel Hughes, 34, has been charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and sexual exploitation in connection with 11 offences involving minors, RCMP said Thursday.
RCMP began investigating Hughes in early August after a man reported having been sexually abused as a child living in Snow Lake, where Hughes had lived until moving to Flin Flon in 2016. The man alleged the incidents happened between 2004 and 2012.
During the investigation a second man came forward with similar allegations of having been sexually abused as a child.
After leaving Snow Lake, Hughes worked as a house parent in charge of supervising children at the residence of Frontier Collegiate Institute in Cranberry Portage, between 2016 and 2019, RCMP said.
Investigators are concerned there could be more victims and are asking them to contact Snow Lake RCMP at 204-358-7723 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-8477 or online.
Survivors of sexual assaults over the age of 16 can also file anonymous reports through Klinic Community Health and work with staff counselors, RCMP said. The 24/7 Klinic sexual assault crisis line is 1-888-292-7565.
Ex-Scouts leader handed 6-year sentence for
child sex crimes in Ottawa
Laura Osman · CBC News
Donald Sullivan, 68, was sentenced Thursday to a total of six years in prison for historical sex crimes involving 11 boys. (Trevor Pritchard/CBC)
A former Scouts leader has been sentenced to six years in prison for sexual crimes against 11 young boys in the 1970s and 1990s.
Donald Sullivan, now 68, pleaded guilty to five counts of gross indecency and one count of sexual assault earlier this year. He was a Scouts leader at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church on Alta Vista Drive in Ottawa between 1972 and 1977.
Justice Norman Boxall appeared to choke up as he delivered the sentence to a room full of his victims and their families. "As a scout leader, he was in a clear position of trust," said Boxall, calling the harm done to Sullivan's victims "profound."
Victims commended
Sullivan groomed his young victims, Boxall said, and at least two of them were repeatedly molested.
Sullivan's crimes against children "demand a harsh sentence," Boxall said. He commended the victims for coming forward after decades of silence, saying their bravery sends a message that child victims will eventually speak up and their abusers will be caught.
Sullivan, dressed in a denim jacket and jeans, did not look at the victims gathered in the courtroom as Boxall laid out his decision. He simply stood and gave a slight nod to acknowledge his punishment.
Maximum penalty
Crown attorney Sabrina Goldfarb had originally asked the judge to impose a 10-year prison sentence on Sullivan.
Instead, he was sentenced to five concurrent sentences of five years in prison for gross indecency, the maximum penalty at the time the attacks took place.
But did they have to be served concurrently? Were four of the boys free game?
Sullivan was also sentenced to one year for the sexual assault charge, which stems from an incident in the 1990s.
The penalty was mitigated by the fact that Sullivan pleaded guilty, saving the victims from having to testify about their experiences. Had he not spared them that ordeal, his sentence would have been significantly longer, Boxall said.
Sullivan will also be banned for life from areas frequented by children such as schools and parks, and will be banned from communicating with children online.
Milton, Ont., man arrested in connection with sexual assaults of young girls in Kitchener, Waterloo
Carmen Groleau · CBC News
Insp. Mark Crowell says the man arrested lived in the Region of Waterloo during the first two sexual assaults, but was no longer living in the area this summer. (Paula Duhatschek/CBC)
The Waterloo Regional Police Service has arrested a Milton man in connection with three separate sexual assaults against young girls that occurred between 2013 and 2019.
Insp. Mark Crowell said police made the arrest Thursday evening at around 5:30 p.m. in Milton.
Crowell said the man, 32, lived in Waterloo region during the first sexual assault in 2013 and the second sexual assault in 2017. The man was living outside the region, in the Milton area, when the July 6 assault happened.
Police said they continue to explore why the man was in Waterloo region at the time of the third assault. "We continue to explore relationships and I can say he does have personal connections to this region that remain during that period," Crowell said, adding the man was a stranger to the children.
We won't rest until it's resolved.
- Insp. Mark Crowell, Waterloo Regional Police Service
Though an arrest had been made, Crowell said, their investigation is not over and police still want to hear from any other witnesses or victims.
"This is the beginning of a new phase of the investigation, where we now can hone in on this individual and track movements over the years and to explore any linkages relationships or any aspects of the investigation that we've not yet uncovered," he said.
Three sexual assaults since 2013
The man faces three charges of sexual assault and three counts of sexual interference and will appear in court in Kitchener on Friday.
The investigation started in October 2013 when a four-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in an apartment building on Barrie Place in Waterloo.
The second sexual assault happened on Oct. 27, 2017 at an apartment building on Patricia Avenue in Kitchener. In that case, a six-year-old girl had been playing outside with a friend around 7 p.m., police said.
The third sexual assault occurred on July 6. A four-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in the common area of an apartment building on Brybeck Crescent in Kitchener.
On July 24, police released a video of the man running on Karn Street toward Belmont Avenue in Kitchener at 8:15 p.m. on July 6, shortly after the most recent assault occurred. In the photo the man was shirtless and wearing beige pants and fled the area in a grey, four-door 2016 to 2018 Honda Civic LX.
Crowell said the police service had all hands on deck for the investigation, with any available officers assisting where they could.
"When you have an unknown sexual offender, especially a serial sexual predator, involved in multiple linked cases, we provide every investigative avenue, every investigate resource we can to as quickly as we can resolve it," he said.
"We won't rest until it's resolved."
Are you interested in working in Halifax, Inspector?
Trial of former Bridgewater, N.S., police chief
accused of sex assault resumes
WARNING: This story contains graphic content describing an alleged sexual assault
Shaina Luck · CBC News
John and Sheri Collyer in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Bridgewater in July. (CBC)
The trial of the former Bridgewater, N.S., police chief accused of sexually assaulting a teenage girl resumed Monday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court after a break of almost two months.
John Collyer faces charges of sexual assault and sexual exploitation in relation to a complainant who was 17 at the time of the alleged 2016 assault. The woman is now 20 and cannot be identified due to a publication ban.
On Monday afternoon, Collyer's wife, Sheri Collyer, took the stand. She testified for the defence about how she and her husband developed a close relationship with the complainant's family, and how the complainant looked to her husband as a "father figure."
In July, the complainant told the court she was riding in the passenger seat of Collyer's car when he reached over and put his fingers inside her shorts and underwear, then into her vagina.
The court also heard from the complainant's mother, a family friend, and her doctor. They testified they discovered inappropriate sexual Facebook messages between Collyer and the teenager.
Collyer was officially removed from the Bridgewater Police Service payroll on Aug. 11, 2018.
On Monday during cross-examination, Sheri Collyer testified she saw the Facebook messages and agreed they were inappropriate and some could have been interpreted in a sexual context.
She said she talked to her husband about the messages and was concerned he was sending them. However, she said she was unconcerned by her husband's relationship with the complainant.
John Collyer is expected to take the stand Tuesday as the final defence witness.
Collyer was suspended in May 2017 after he was charged by SIRT, and officially removed from the Bridgewater Police Service payroll on Aug. 11, 2018.
Psychiatrist's assessment
The final Crown witness Monday morning was Dr. Jean Stephanie Casey, a child and adolescent psychiatrist who did two assessments on the complainant over a series of appointments between 2015 and 2017.
Casey testified that during the first assessment, the complainant was more than 16 years old, but acted younger than her years due to a number of disorders, such as ADHD.
The psychiatrist said the complainant's behaviour at that time put her at "an emotional or intellectual age of between 10 and 12."
Casey testified the complainant's ability to understand sexual intimacy was also immature, which included things like the ability to understand adult relationships.
"[She] would be much more vulnerable to experiences that would put her in harm's way," Casey said, adding that young people who are sexually immature often struggle with how to use the internet correctly.
Under cross-examination, Casey said she noticed the complainant had "no filter" at the time and tended to blurt out whatever was on her mind, regardless of whether it was appropriate.
Defence lawyer David Bright suggested to Casey that the complainant might have the ability to manipulate other people, make up stories and pretend they were true.
Casey said she had no knowledge of the complainant doing so, but agreed the complainant's mental abilities wouldn't stop her from acting in that way.
'A more vulnerable person'
Crown lawyer Roland Levesque told reporters outside court it was important to hear from Casey so the court would understand the complainant's mental state.
"A person who's not operating at the biological or chronological age that she is, but at a younger age, is a more vulnerable person," said Levesque.
"You're having a situation where you're not dealing with a person who is acting as you would normally expect a person of that age to act, and is more so acting as a child. And I think that has a quite important impact on the judge's assessment of the complainant's testimony."
The trial was originally supposed to wrap up in July, but a full additional week was added because the trial progressed slower than the Crown anticipated.
Former Carleton Ravens basketball player
charged with sexual assault in Ottawa
CBC News
Ottawa basketball player Eddie Ekiyor, pictured here in his Team Canada jersey, is facing several charges after an incident in April. (Canada Basketball)
A 22-year-old Ottawa man who played basketball for the Carleton University Ravens is facing charges of sexual assault, kidnapping and more following an incident in the spring, police say.
On April 7, the man met a 23-year-old woman at a bar in the ByWard Market area, "where he plied her with alcohol and drugs," Ottawa police alleged in a news release issued Friday.
He then took her to an address in the city's west end and sexually assaulted her while she drifted in and out of consciousness, police said. She was then put in a taxi and driven home.
Edward Ekiyor is charged with sexual assault, kidnapping, and overcoming resistance to commit an offence.
Ekiyor was named tournament MVP when the Ravens won the Canadian university men's basketball championship in March.
Investigators believe there could be other victims, and are asking anyone with information to call the sexual assault and child abuse unit at 613-236-1222, ext. 5760. Anonymous tips can be submitted by calling Crime Stoppers toll-free at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).
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