'Drunk Consent Is Still Consent' Claims Lawyer in Police Sexual Assault Case

Gold is representing officer Sameer Kara, who along with officers Leslie Nyznik and Joshua Cabero, is charged with the sexual assault of a female parking enforcement officer at the Westin Harbour Castle hotel in January 2015, according to the CBC. The Toronto Sun reported that all three of the accused officers were suspended with pay after they were charged in February 2015.

According to the charges, the complainant attended a police staff party at several downtown bars the night of the allegations. During that time, she consumed seven or eight alcoholic drinks. She claims that she was not able to consent to sexual activity that night because she was too intoxicated, testifying in court that she was orally and vaginally penetrated by the three officers while lying immobile on a hotel bed in downtown Toronto. During the judge-only trial, the complainant also testified that she believes she was drugged on the night in question but is not sure when or by whom. The alleged drugging is not a part of the indictment.

"I was powerless. I couldn't move. I couldn't talk. I couldn't stop what was happening," she said, according to The Star. The complainant told investigators that she did not tell Nyznik and Cabero to stop "because she was unable to form the words." She says the alleged assault eventually ended after she heard Kara tell Cabero, "Josh, stop. She is out."

Nyznik, the only officer who will testify in the trial, claimed in court last week that the complainant and officers had consensual sex. The defense focused on hotel security footage that showed the complainant exiting a taxi with a slight stumble (which according to the CBC, the defense argued was due to her high-heeled boots on a cobblestone driveway) and entering the hotel with two of the accused officers.

The complainant testified that she felt like she was in a "Star Trek warp" while suffering vision loss, an "excruciating headache," and overall felt "very unwell" in the taxi on the way to the hotel. But Gold argued that her story "makes no rational sense."

"It defies any standard of judgement," he said. "She would have said to the taxi driver just take me home." "Why is [the complainant] getting out of the taxi," Gold asked, raising his voice according to the CBC. "Why is [the complainant] not sitting in the taxi to take the taxi home?" She responded, "I have no memory of it."

During the four-day cross-examination of the complainant, the accused officers' defense attempted to discredit her credibility and memory. "Lawyers for all three defendants attempted to portray the complainant as being attracted to the officers leading up to the alleged assault, consenting to sexual activity with them, then being embarrassed and worried about her reputation afterwards," the CBC reported.

Gold summarized the defense's view of the alleged assault by asking the complainant, "Why isn't it a reasonable possibility that you are not a victim of a crime but a victim of the alcohol diminishing your inhibitions and the alcoholic impairment of your memory?"

She answered, "I did not consent of what happened in that hotel room."

The trial resumes today.