Accused officers’ trial begins in Supreme Court

The trial of two RCMP constables accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Watson Lake last March began in Whitehorse this morning.

The trial of two RCMP constables accused of sexually assaulting a woman in Watson Lake last March began in Whitehorse this morning.

Graham Belak, 30, and Shawn McLaughlin, 32, both answered not guilty to the charge, reiterated to them by Yukon Supreme Court Justice Leigh Gower, who imposed a publication ban on the identity of the alleged victim.

The first witness, Dr. Danielle Sergeeva, testifying via closed-circuit television from Vancouver, said she did not find any evidence of forced intercourse when she examined the alleged victim.

Under questioning by Crown prosecutor Robert Beck, Sergeeva, a physician at Watson Lake’s hospital and clinic at the time, testified the alleged victim first told her that “she didn’t remember the actual act of intercourse.”

This was after Sergeeva arrived at a residence to see the woman before taking her to the hospital to conduct a sexual assault examination.

“When I took her to the hospital, she told me she was sure she was sexually assaulted,” Sergeeva told the court.

Sergeeva also summed up bruises on the woman’s right thigh as “superficial” and not necessarily indicative of a sexual assault.

Katherine Kinsella-Relkoff, the attending nurse during Sergeeva’s examination, was the next witness to take the stand.

Kinsella-Relkoff testified that the alleged victim “was very upset and distraught and very fidgety” during the exam and that bruising on the woman’s thigh could be consistent with a sexual assault.

Both Sergeeva and Kinsella-Relkoff testified the alleged victim stated she woke up where she believed was Belak’s residence; however, Sergeeva’s and Kinsella-Relkoff’s versions differed slightly.

Sergeeva testified the alleged victim first told her she woke up on the floor, then said she woke up on the couch while Kinsella-Relkoff could not recall what the woman said, except that she woke up at Belak’s residence.

The trial resumed this afternoon.