he defence lawyer in the general court martial of Sgt. Kevin MacIntyre is suggesting an alleged sexual assault was really a one-time affair that the woman later regretted.
The court has imposed a publication ban on any information that may identify the alleged victim.
In his cross-examination of the woman on Tuesday, David Bright suggested to her that she was a willing participant in the sexual encounter in her hotel room on the night of Sept. 27, 2015, while the Canadian Forces members were deployed in Glasgow, Scotland.
Bright suggested to her that she actually had answered the door when MacIntyre knocked to ask about a jacket that he had misplaced and that she invited him in look for it.
“No, no way. I did not invite him in,” she responded.
Bright then suggested that after further conversation about her husband back home, she laid on the bed and he asked to go under the covers. In rapid succession, Bright made several other suggestions: that they spooned and then started kissing and eventually disrobed.
To each suggestion, she replied “no.”
He eventually suggested they had intercourse.
Once again, she denied it.
He further suggested that she did not report it right away but brought forward a formal complaint only after about six months had passed, out of concern for her career trajectory.
“It would be particularly bad for you if it came out that you had had sex with a subordinate,” Bright suggested.
The complainant replied that she didn’t see it that way.
“At this point I was not seeing (it as) me having sex with him, I was seeing him sexually assaulting me,” she said.
Bright introduced several photos into evidence from the alleged victim’s Facebook profile that showed her at various locations throughout the following weeks of her deployment.
In one, she was taking part in the English tradition of high tea.
Bright used this to challenge her claim that she was unable to eat in the days following the alleged assault.
She replied that she did not eat much at the tea.
She also said she posted the photos to maintain the illusion to her family back home that she was OK.
Another photo of her during an outing in Spain showed her smiling and appearing to enjoy herself.
She replied that she had faked the smile in that one, although another image of her in front of a castle featured a genuine reaction.
That was a real smile, she said.
Bright pointed out that she did not keep texts she made and received on her BlackBerry the day after the alleged assault.
He also pointed out that she washed the tank top she was wearing at the time, removing blood she said was staining the cloth. She also did not seek medical attention in any way, despite testifying that she found bruises on the inner side of her legs and that her vagina was sore and irritated.
Nor was there any video security footage from the hotel of whatever movements might have taken place in the hallways that night because she waited so long to make a report, Bright said.
“You said just enough to cover yourself,” the defence lawyer said before ending his cross-examinaton.
The alleged incident occurred after the group arrived in Scotland to begin a mission to support Canadian vessels who would be taking part in exercises off the coast of Europe.
On Monday, the woman testified before military judge Cmdr. J.B.M. Pelletier and a panel of five military members that she and fellow Armed Forces members had a meal and then some drinks during an evening of socializing at the restaurant of the hotel where they were staying.
Later, she said, she returned to her room with the help of another woman in her group who wanted to make sure she got to bed safely. The alleged victim testified that MacIntyre also was there when the woman made sure she got into bed and again a second time when they helped her make sure her passport was not lost before she again went to bed.
She claims she later awoke to find MacIntyre sexually assaulting her from behind.
MacIntyre has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
In his followup questions after Bright’s cross-examination, prosecutor Maj. Larry Langlois asked the alleged victim why she had not gone to a doctor.
She replied that it was just a couple of bruises and she had Vagisil cream to handle her irritation.
She came up through an old school mentality, she said. The attitude was to “take the hit” and carry on.
Later Tuesday, Langlois called the woman who had accompanied the alleged victim back to her hotel room as his second witness.
The woman testified that she knew the alleged victim through a friendship with her sister, initially, but they became closer through the Scotland experience.
She related a similar account of the events of earlier in the evening: a meal at the hotel restaurant followed by drinks.
She said she later escorted the alleged victim to her hotel room because she makes it her practice to do that with all her friends.
She also said MacIntyre was with them at the time and both she and MacIntyre made sure the woman got to bed.
