RCMP Watch

Jun 15 2006 - CBC News

A judge has harshly criticized a Labrador RCMP officer who waited six hours to investigate a sexual assault complaint.

A Nain man was charged with the crime last fall. He was acquitted in May after Supreme Court Judge Robert Fowler ruled there was reasonable doubt of his guilt.

The source of that doubt, Fowler said in his decision, was how long it took police to respond to the woman’s complaint, and the way the investigation was carried out.

The court heard testimony that the alleged assault happened in Nain early one morning last September.

The woman said she was attacked as she walked home at around 4 a.m., and reported the assault to the RCMP minutes later.

Because of the time of her call, the woman’s complaint was directed to the telecom centre in St. John’s, which in turn contacted an off-duty RCMP officer in Nain.

That officer, Const. Delphus Caldwell, testified at the trial that he phoned the woman, but got a busy signal.

Caldwell said he then decided the investigation could wait until he went to work — six hours later.

The court was told Caldwell spoke to the woman, heard her story and made an arrest the next day.

However, Caldwell did not speak to any possible witnesses who were in the area at the time of the incident, nor did he carry out any further investigation.

In dismissing the charge because of a lack of evidence, Fowler called Caldwell’s actions inexcusable. He said it is not good enough for a police officer to say that an investigation can wait because of the time of day that an alleged offence occurred.

Fowler noted that the allegation did not involve a trivial property offence, but rather a violent sexual assault which demanded a rigorous, exhaustive investigation — something Fowler said Caldwell did not do.

The RCMP will only say that it is reviewing Fowler’s decision.