A woman has filed a lawsuit against the Halifax Regional Police and Nova Scotia RCMP, accusing them of mishandling her sexual assault case.
On May 19, 2018, Carrie Low reported to the Sexual Assault Investigative Team — a unit run by HRP and RCMP — that she was violently sexually assaulted after being kidnapped.
The Halifax woman told police she was abducted outside a bar in Dartmouth and raped by two men, CBC reported in September 2019.
But the investigative team “were stalling and it appeared that there were some very serious errors in terms of the investigation,” such as never examining the scene of the crime and failing to collect essential evidence in a timely manner, Emma Halpern, executive director of the Elizabeth Fry Society of mainland Nova Scotia, said about Low’s case.
“As things continued on, there was a lot of talk from the police and very little in terms of action,” Halpern said.
In November, Low and Halpern received information about her case from an investigator of the sexual assault team.
“He came forward and contacted us to say, ‘Listen, this is what happened. The reason it hasn’t gone forward is because initially you were labelled a liar and a drunk,’ and he was told not to pursue this,” Halpern said.
“I was surprised by his courage and willingness to stand up to a system … and say, ‘I’m observing things that are not right and I want it to change.’”
The officer, who Low and Halpern met in person, told them there are more cases similar to Low’s that “aren’t being investigated properly.”
Halpern, who says more than 90 per cent of her clients have been sexually abused or assaulted in their lives, said most women “don’t have the ability to come forward” and if they do, wouldn’t be willing to go public or “persevere and pressure the police.”
“This isn’t about money. This isn’t about Carrie’s own self-interest. It’s really about this not happening in the future,” Halpern said.
“We need to do better by women in our society and the police have to take responsibility and be accountable.”
Low’s lawyer Mike Dull, of Valent Legal in Halifax, said Low’s case will hopefully “effect change in how policing agencies deal with sexual assault survivors who come to them for help.
“What Carrie has experienced is the polar opposite of what women ought to expect from the agencies the public puts in charge of sexual assault investigations,” said Dull, who filed the lawsuit in Nova Scotia Supreme Court on Monday morning.
HRP spokesman Const. John MacLeod said it would be inappropriate to comment on the matter as it's before the courts, but noted "it is important to reiterate that this is an open and active file that is being thoroughly investigated."
This isn’t the first lawsuit Low has filed in response to how sexual assault team has handled her case.
In May 2019, Low filed separate complaints against the HRP and the RCMP with the Nova Scotia police complaints commissioner.
But Low’s filing against the HRP was outside the six-month deadline, as per the Nova Scotia Police Act that states “a complaint made more than six months after the date of the occurrence that gave rise to the complaint, the complaint must not be processed,” whereas the RCMP has a one-year statute of limitations.
Low’s case to lift the time restriction so her complaint against HRP can be investigated is to be heard in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in March.
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