British sailor’s trial adjourned after Crown decides against calling witness

The 38-year-old Smalley is charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm and participating in a sexual assault involving one or more people in the barracks of 12 Wing Shearwater in April 2015.

The case once involved a total of four accused, but charges against two other sailors were dropped.

The complainant has testified that she was gang raped by at least three men.

On Thursday, the sexual assault nurse who examined the complainant after the alleged incident testified she found a number of bruises and injuries on the woman.

Paula Nickerson testified there were certain injuries on the woman’s genitals that surprised her because they were not injuries she had commonly found on sexual assault complainants.

She said the amount and variety of the injuries made it one of the more “significant” cases she handled during her eight years as a sexual assault nurse.

The trial also heard from a forensic DNA specialist from an RCMP lab in Ottawa on Thursday.

Florence Celestin said human semen was discovered on the complainant’s underwear, and two DNA profiles were discovered on the underwear: the complainant’s and a male.

She testified the DNA profile of the male matched a DNA profile taken from the one of the four suspects originally charged in the case.

She did not name the suspect, but defence lawyer Ian Hutchison noted that it was his client’s DNA profile.

Celestin conceded to Hutchinson that the DNA could have been transferred from elsewhere, such as sheets, a blanket or chair.

The British sailors were in the Halifax area participating in a naval hockey tournament.

The complainant was at the barracks on the night in question because her friend had invited her on a double date after meeting a British sailor on Tinder.

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Aly Thomson, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

British sailor’s trial adjourned after Crown decides against calling witness

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