(CBC News) – A Yukon Supreme Court judge has heard testimony from a woman who claims two off-duty RCMP officers raped her a year ago, but defence lawyers argued it was the complainant who initiated sexual contact with the Mounties.
The woman, who cannot be identified under a publication ban, has testified that constables Graham Belak, 30, and Shawn McLaughlin, 33, sexually assaulted her in the early-morning hours of March 8, 2009, in the southern Yukon town of Watson Lake.
Belak and McLaughlin were both suspended from the RCMP with pay after the charges were laid. They have since moved out of Watson Lake, as has the woman.
The judge-only trial began Monday at the Whitehorse courthouse and is expected to run through this week.
On the stand Tuesday afternoon, the woman said she met the off-duty officers at a house party. The three went back to Belak’s house, where, the woman alleged, McLaughlin held her down on the floor while Belak raped her.
The woman said she could not move or speak during the alleged assault and that she blacked out a couple times before she woke up around 6 a.m. to find she was naked from the waist down.
She said she left Belak’s house and returned to her home, where her husband yelled at her for being out all night without calling.
Acted seductively: defence
But during their 4½ hours of cross-examination on Wednesday, defence lawyers suggested the woman had acted in a sexually seductive manner toward McLaughlin and Belak that night, starting at the house party.
Witnesses from the party have said they noticed a strong attraction between the woman and McLaughlin — who are both married — and that the two stayed close to each other for much of the evening.
According to McLaughlin’s lawyer, Rob Warren, the officers and the woman were at Belak’s house when McLaughlin told the woman she had nice breasts, and she stood up to show them off.
Warren said the sexually charged banter continued among the three until McLaughlin asked the woman whether she would be interested in a threesome.
A short time later, the woman initiated sexual contact with McLaughlin and had sex with him and Belak on the living room floor, according to Warren.
The woman steadfastly denied all of Warren’s allegations, saying she would never have done those things.
But she was unable to answer many of the defence lawyers’ questions about what happened that night, saying she could not remember all of the details.
While the woman said she had been drugged, she could not explain how she was drugged.
A blood sample did not turn up any presence of a date-rape drug although the court was told that the sample was taken 30 hours after the alleged incident took place, so no trace of a drug would have remained.
Husband thought of killing officers
The court heard testimony earlier Tuesday from the woman’s husband, who said he regrets not going to the house party where his wife met Belak and McLaughlin. He said he chose to stay home instead to watch sports on television.
Defence lawyers brought up an incident that happened several months after the alleged assault, in which the husband made a threat against Belak and McLaughlin. The husband admitted making the threat.
That incident took place last summer in Whitehorse while a preliminary hearing for the officers’ case was underway. The woman’s husband said he was arguing with his wife on the street after they had been drinking at a local bar.
Two other RCMP officers arrived and advised the couple to spend the night apart. The woman was taken to a shelter while her husband was taken to hospital because of concerns about his mental state.
The husband admitted in court Tuesday that he told the officers he had been thinking all day about killing Belak and McLaughlin but denied that he had also threatened his wife.
Defence lawyer Andrew McKay said he might call upon the RCMP officers who dealt with the couple that night to testify. One of the officers was in the courtroom Tuesday but left after it was pointed out that witnesses are not supposed to listen to preceding testimony.
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