Northumberland OPP officer James Orser found not guilty of sexual assaultOSHAWA -- A judge has acquitted a Northumberland OPP officer of sex crimes against two teenaged girls who claimed they were assaulted at his Campbellford home in the summer of 2010.
The stories told by the young women were riddled with inconsistencies too numerous to ignore, Superior Court Justice Ted Minden said in pronouncing Constable James Orser not guilty Friday, April 10.
“There were many discrepancies on matters large and small,” the judge said. “Their versions were consistently inconsistent. They did not come close to meshing with each other.”
Const. Orser, who was charged with two counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual interference after an investigation by the Province’s Special Investigations Unit, thanked the judge and shook hands with defence lawyer Harry Black. But outside court he declined comment.
“Not today,” he said. “I need time.”
During a trial that began March 30 in Oshawa, Justice Minden heard testimony from witnesses including the two women and Const. Orser. The women, aged 14 and 18 at the time they claimed to have been assaulted, said they went to Const. Orser’s home on a night in July 2010. They testified they were given alcohol and invited into a hot tub, eventually winding up in a bedroom where they were both sexually assaulted.
Const. Orser denied either girl was at his house. He claimed he hadn’t met the 14 year old prior to the night in question, but was familiar with the 18 year old because he’d helped her deal with an abusive boyfriend.
The women offered differing and shifting accounts of the incident, including key elements such as when they arrived at Const. Orser’s house and the way in which the alleged assaults occurred.
The older woman, now 22, also acknowledged that for two years she told investigators from the OPP and SIU she’d had no sexual contact with Const. Orser. Her story changed in 2012 when she was in custody and facing penitentiary time for a serious assault, court heard. She denied tailoring her story to broker a deal with authorities.
“I have nothing but her word on that,” Justice Minden said in analyzing Mr. Black’s suggestion that the woman had changed her story to benefit herself. “This is a possibility that can’t be ignored,” he added.
Prosecutor Peter Scrutton had urged the judge to accept the testimony of the two women, reasoning that the inconsistencies in their accounts actually proved they hadn’t colluded to frame the cop. He said the Crown’s case was bolstered by a snippet of video, caught when one of the girls inadvertently triggered the video function on her cellphone, that shows blurred and shaky images from inside Const. Orser’s house.
In assessing the video Justice Minden noted that Const. Orser had testified he generally left his house unlocked. And while the video clip captures two girls’ voices, there’s no evidence Const. Orser was there when it was taken, he said.
“There is no evidence as to when it was created,” Justice Minden said of the video.
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/555 ... l-assault/