Former N.S. Mountie denies sexual assault accusations during testimony

Kevin O'Brien testified in his own defence Wednesday at his sexual assault trial. 

The former Mountie is accused of assaulting a fellow RCMP officer in her Halifax apartment in 1994. His trial has been going on in Nova Scotia Supreme Court this week.

O'Brien was the last witness to testify. There are some parallels in the stories he and the woman told the court, but there are also dramatic differences.

Her identity is protected by a publication ban

O'Brien said he and the woman worked together on the same watch, and it was common for the group to gather socially at the end of their shifts. He said the gathering that led to this complaint was early on a morning in the fall of 1994. The woman testified at the start of the trial that it was an evening housewarming party.

Both of them said they ended up in the bathroom. She said he pushed her there, he said she took him by the arm and led him.

"I have no idea where she's taking me," O'Brien testified Wednesday. He punctuated the comment with a shrug.

Accused shares his side of the story

In her version, she said he put her on the bathroom vanity, pulled down her jeans part way and then sexually assaulted her. 

O'Brien testified that the woman climbed up on the vanity on her own, then they both undid his pants. But he said that's as far as it went. He said they then returned to the living room and rejoined their coworkers. O'Brien said he only had a couple of beers, but by the time he left, he said the woman was clearly drunk.

O'Brien said he and the woman continued to work together for a few years after this incident, and he was at her home on at least one other occasion. He also said she came to his Dartmouth home a couple of times with other officers. She denied they were ever in each other's homes after this one time.

O'Brien said he only realized the woman held any animosity towards him when he was contacted by Halifax Regional Police in 2021 and told she had made a sexual assault complaint against him. 

"She must have for what she's done to me," O'Brien told court.

O'Brien said he could only recall three times when there was friction between them, and none of them related to this incident.

Closing arguments Thursday

He said he was angry with her when she got a job opportunity he felt he deserved more. He said she got angry with him when he tried to intervene in a dispute between her and another officer. And he said she broke down sobbing during an episode where he was driving a group of officers home after they'd been downtown drinking.

Both Crown prosecutor Stephen Anstey and O'Brien's lawyer Stan MacDonald put each element of the woman's allegations to him and he denied them each time. 

"Didn't happen," he said repeatedly.

The Crown and defence will make their closing arguments on Thursday.