Judge’s errors led
to cop’s acquittal on sex assault charges, Crown says
Sgt. Christopher Heard, shown in 2017, was found not guilty of sexually
assaulting two women in separate incidents that allegedly occurred while he was
on duty in the autumn of 2015. (Randy
Risling / Toronto Star file photo)
The complainants — both in their 20s and strangers to one another —
independently came forward with what Ontario Court Justice Russell Otter
called “strikingly similar” allegations. Both said Heard, 47,
groped them inside a police vehicle after offering a late-night drive
home from the Blue Jays Way area in the city’s entertainment district.
The
long-serving police officer acknowledged on the stand that he’d picked up
each woman, but
denied the allegations of sexual assault. While Otter said Heard’s
testimony lacked reliability and credibility, he also found problems with
the complainants’ accounts, saying the inconsistencies in their testimony
gave him “reasonable doubt as to whether the sexual assault occurred.”
In arguments filed in advance of the
appeal hearing, Crown prosecutor Philip Perlmutter alleges Otter made a
series of errors en route to the conclusion that Heard should be acquitted.
He says Otter failed to factor into his decision the “improbability of
coincidence” that two strangers would make such similar allegations.
“Put another way, there is no other logical explanation how complete
strangers could describe in detail assaults that were identical in every
respect and circumstance, unless they actually occurred,” Perlmutter wrote.
Gary Clewley, Heard’s lawyer, declined to comment and has not yet filed a
response to the Crown’s arguments. Immediately after Heard’s acquittal last
fall, he called Otter’s judgment “lengthy and thorough.”
In his arguments, Perlmutter summarizes the similarities in the accounts by
the women, whose identities are covered by a publication ban.
One woman said Heard was working alone when he offered her a ride home from
the Enteraintment District in the early hours of Sept. 24, 2015. The woman, who
was then 27, said he inappropriately touched the inner thigh, close to her
vagina.
She later complained, and an investigation was launched by the Special
Investigations Unit, the provincial watchdog that probes allegations of sexual
assault by police. In October 2015, Heard was informed he was under
investigation in connection to the allegation.
On Nov. 1, 2015, Heard offered another lone woman a late-night ride home in
his police SUV — a move Otter called “blatant conduct that defies common
sense and risks his professional career.” That woman, then 25, testified
that as he dropped her off, Heard touched her inner left thigh, near her
pubic bone, causing her to “slap his hand away.”
She later read a news report about a sexual assault charge being laid
against Heard, recognized his name and face, and decided to come forward
with her account of being assaulted, saying she “couldn’t turn the other
cheek” after she read the report.
In both cases, Heard disabled the police vehicle’s in-car camera system,
violating his training and Toronto police procedure.
Perlmutter argues
that Otter “improperly limited the scope of the evidence” he was required to
consider and failed to properly consider the “evidence in its totality.” He
also alleges that Otter’s reasons for the decision are insufficient.
The appeal is scheduled to be heard Sept. 14.
Heard is also facing
professional misconduct charges under the province’s Police Services Act
stemming from the criminal charges. According to a summary of the
allegations contained in tribunal documents, Heard is accused of failing to
inform the communications operator of his whereabouts after picking up the
first woman.
He is also accused of belatedly including an account of that encounter in
his police notes after learning the woman filed a complaint against him.
None of the allegations have been tested at the police tribunal. Heard
has been suspended with pay since May 2016.
Wendy Gillis is a Toronto-based reporter
covering crime and policing. Reach her by email at
wgillis@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @wendygillis
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