Seven witnesses have testified thus far in the trial of an alleged sexual assault. The trial that is being heard in the Yukon Supreme Court by a seven-woman, five-man jury.

John White, 38, was arrested and charged with sexual assault on March 16, 2007 following an incident in the mature student dormitory at Yukon College.

The prosecution has so far called seven witnesses, and was scheduled to call the complainant to the stand today.

Justice Leigh Gower is presiding.

Crown attorney Noel Sinclair first called RCMP Const. Matthew Legette, who responded to a call made from the student dorm at approximately 5:47 a.m. last March 16.

The call was placed by a relative of the complainant, who was living in the same dorm at the time of the incident. The complainant, a 22-year-old woman, also spoke to Legette on the phone.

The complainant was "very, very worked up, fighting back tears," Legette testified Monday. "She was obviously upset."

The complainant cannot be identified under a court-ordered publication ban.

Legette said that when he arrived at the dorm with another officer, the complainant and her aunt were waiting in the entranceway.

"(The complainant) had been crying," Legette testified. "She wiped her eyes many times."

The complainant said she had been raped by someone she went to school with, said Legette. While he noticed the complainant had been drinking, he said she "was not impaired to the point where she couldn't walk."

RCMP Const. Peter Wright, who also testified Monday, accompanied Legette to the college that same morning. He testified that the complainant was "visibly upset" and had a hard time communicating with the officers.

"She almost could not speak," said Wright. "It was very difficult to get a straight answer from her."

Wright testified he went to the suspect's dorm room just after 6 a.m. and heard snoring.

When a third officer, Const. Drew Horbachawsky, arrived, Wright testified that he and Legette returned to the suspect's room and were able to push the door open, indicating that it was unlocked. They saw a man sleeping in the bed, said Wright.

"The snoring was loud, very loud," Wright testified.

The pair returned to the entranceway of the dorm before returning to White's room again, where they discovered that the door was locked.

Wright said they knocked on the door and identified themselves as police "at least twice." Wright said he kicked the door in an attempt to gain entrance.

According to Wright's testimony, the man inside yelled, "Who is it?" and "Stop knocking or I'll stick you!" as the two officers knocked on the door.

The man eventually opened the door and the two officers went inside the dorm room.

Both officers testified that White was wrapped in a bed comforter.

White was told to drop the comforter, which he did, said Wright, revealing that he was not wearing clothes underneath.

Legette described White as "argumentative" and "uncooperative" as the officers arrested and handcuffed him.

The pair also seized a pair of underwear from the dorm room. The underwear was placed in an evidence bag and turned over to Horbachawsky, the RCMP's primary investigator of the case, said Legette.

Wright testified that they permitted White to dress before transporting him to the RCMP detachment, arriving at approximately 7 a.m.

White was released from custody the next day.

When he took the stand, Horbachawsky testified that he spoke to the complainant and her aunt for 10 to 15 minutes in the aunt's dorm room at the college.

The complainant was "very quiet and withdrawn," said Horbachawsky. He added that she was upset and visibly crying.

Horbachawsky said the complainant told him that she'd been sexually assaulted, that someone had forced himself on her, and that she did not want to have sex.

Horbachawsky said the complainant consented to have a sexual assault examination conducted at Whitehorse General Hospital.

Horbachawsky said he ensured that White had already been taken into custody before transporting her to hospital, to avoid any further contact between the complainant and suspect.

Horbachawsky accompanied her to the hospital, where Dr. Anne Williams conducted the sexual assault examination. The complainant was released from the hospital at 9:30 a.m.

The doctor gave Horbachawsky exhibits from the examination, which included a blood sample from the victim and a sanitary pad.

Williams said in her testimony Tuesday that "there was no sperm (semen) observed" during the examination.

Williams described a wound she noticed in the complainant's genital area. Williams described the wound as a "disruption of the skin," or an abrasion, that she said would be consistent with forceful sexual contact.

Williams determined the wound was fewer than 12 hours old by the bright red colour and lack of scabbing.

According to the testimony of Joy Kearsey, a qualified expert in DNA forensics, there was no DNA testing conducted on the samples from the sexual assault examination, because of a lack of testable material.

Kearsey said in her testimony that the presence of the complainant's DNA on the underwear taken from White's dorm room "can't be excluded."

Kearsey, who was provided with a profile of the complainant's DNA, said bodily fluids found on the underwear contained matches for the complainant's DNA, although the evidence is ambiguous, due to the presence of DNA from at least two other sources.

Kearsey said the "major component" of the DNA material she analyzed, including two hairs, belonged to a male.

Following the sexual assault examination, Horbachawsky said he escorted the complainant to the RCMP detachment, where she was "very co-operative" in providing a witness statement. He noted she was very quiet and shy, keeping to herself.

During defence lawyer Gordon Coffin's cross-examination, Horbachawsky said the victim would sometimes respond, "I don't know," or "I don't remember" when asked questions about the alleged incident.

Horbachawsky said the complainant's general message was that she did not want to have sex and that White had told her he "wouldn't bother her."

A 20-year-old relative of the complainant also testified Tuesday. She said she and the complainant had gone out for dinner at the Westmark Hotel the night of March 15, followed by a visit to Lizard's lounge.

The relative said White was "holding (the complainant) from behind" outside of the bar after closing time.

She specified that White had his arms around the complainant's abdomen, with his hands joined at the front. The relative added that the complainant was "very intoxicated.

"If she was sober, she wouldn't be letting a guy just hold her (like that)," she testified. "I was worried about (the complainant), not knowing who John (White) was."

The relative said the complainant told her that White wanted her to come back to his dorm at Yukon College to drink more beer.

The complainant had already had three glasses of draft beer at the Westmark, and at least four bottles of beer at Lizard's, according to her relative, as well as two tequila shots.

Upon hearing of the plan to go back to the dorm, the relative testified that she said to White, "Can I trust you? Can I trust you?" to which White said yes.

As White and the complainant left together, the relative testified that she said to White, "I'm trusting you with her."

The trial continued today, with the complainant expected to testify as a Crown witness.