Verdict looms in case of 3 Toronto cops accused of gang sexual assault
Posted August 8, 2017 12:13 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Three Toronto police officers accused of sexually assaulting a female parking enforcement officer after a night of bar hopping in January 2015 will learn their fate on Wednesday.
Sameer Kara, Leslie Nyznik and Joshua Cabero, all from 51 division, are accused of sexually assaulting their colleague at a room in Toronto’s Westin Harbour Castle Hotel while she was too intoxicated to consent, according to court documents.
The accused, who were suspended with pay, elected to be tried by judge alone. All three pleaded not guilty.
“I was powerless, I couldn’t move, I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t stop what was happening,” the woman, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, testified.
But defence lawyers tried to cast doubt on her account of what transpired, suggesting she lied because she feared damage to her reputation.
“I’m suggesting to you that what happened on the early morning hours of Jan. 17 was that you got into a panic, filled with regret about what you had done and in a panic about what was going to happen to your reputation if word got out you had intercourse with three officers,” Nyznik’s lawyer, Harry Black, said during the trial.
The alleged victim was grilled over her choice of clothing, her drinking, and her intentions, when she took the stand.
“I’m going to suggest to you that you went to that party with the hope, the anticipation, that by the end of the night, you would be in that rented hotel room having sex,” Black added.
“Absolutely not,” she responded.
With files from The Canadian Press
Here’s a look back at some of the coverage leading up to Wednesday’s verdict.