A Waterloo Regional Police officer says it was consensual sex. The woman says it was sexual assault. A judge will deliver her verdict on Feb. 5.
Sgt. Caleb Roy, 55, has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the woman in 2010 in his friend’s Toronto condo. He was off duty at the time.
Roy testified he was tired and went to sleep in the only bedroom in the condo. The woman, he said, came in, took off her clothes and initiated sexual intercourse.
Crown prosecutor Katherine Beaudoin alleged a much different version of events.
“This case, in my submission, has all the hallmarks of a set-up,” she told Justice Katherine Corrick in closing arguments on Tuesday in Toronto.
The Crown alleges Roy wanted to have sex with her that night and asked her if she wanted to go to Toronto to celebrate his birthday with an outing with friends. He knew she would agree, Beaudoin said.
“And instead what he does is he brings her to his friend’s condo in Toronto, a friend that is loyal to him that he knew would keep his secrets and protect his interests,” she said.
“As the night came to a close, Mr. Roy manufactured a reason to sleep at his friend’s condo and he tried to cajole (her) into the bedroom. And when she resisted, and continually resisted, he forced himself upon her.”
Defence lawyer Harry Black, in closing arguments, asked why Roy would choose the home of a close friend, who is also a police officer, to commit a sexual assault.
“It is a story that makes no sense,” Black said. “It is completely implausible.”
Roy’s friend was in the small condo at the time of the alleged attack.
Roy was charged by the Special Investigations Unit in 2018 and is suspended with pay.
The sergeant testified he and the woman kissed once in the days leading up to the Toronto visit. He said he viewed the trip as a date, although he did not tell her it was a date.
The woman testified that before the alleged attack, she had planned to sleep on the couch but said Roy encouraged her to sleep in the bedroom.
“He was basically pulling/escorting me off the couch, saying, ‘Don’t be silly, just go sleep in (the bedroom),’” the woman said.
She testified Roy pushed her into the bedroom and raped her.
“According to the complainant, Mr. Roy, without any warning, acted much like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” Black said. “A man who she had described in the most positive terms suddenly turned on her and without warning committed a series of violent sexual assaults.
“If such a thing were to happen, one might have thought that flight would be one reaction, to ensure there would be no continuation or repetition of the assaults.”
Black noted that after the alleged attack, the woman did not flee and did not call the police or an Uber. The Crown said it’s impossible to predict how a sexual assault victim might react.
The woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, suggested in an interview with the SIU that she put on her clothes after the alleged attack and fell asleep in the bed with Roy, Black said. At trial she said she lay on the bed but did not fall asleep.
“It is submitted that she changed her testimony at this trial because of the concern that a reasonable person might find it surprising that someone who was physically assaulted in the manner she described would have fallen asleep in the same bed as his or her attacker,” Black said.
Roy’s friend testified he did not hear or see anything that would suggest Roy sexually assaulted the woman. The Crown said the friend’s testimony can’t be trusted. The friend said the assertion that “his loyalty was to his friend and not the justice system was an insult,” Black said.
The woman said Roy drove her home in the morning after the alleged attack. She said he insinuated he could help her look for a job if they had a relationship. Roy denied making the insinuation. They had a sexual relationship for months after the alleged assault.
Gordon Paul is a Waterloo Region-based reporter focusing on crime for The Record.
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