Complainant in trial of Windsor police officer says alleged assaults were too painful to document

A woman who says she was sexually assaulted by a Windsor police staff sergeant says she couldn't bring herself to keep notes of the incidents because doing so would be like reopening a wound.

This is according to testimony on day two of the sexual assault trial of Staff Sgt. Ken Price, who's facing four counts of sexual assault for alleged incidents that happened between 2011 and 2015. Price has pleaded not guilty to all four counts.

The defence focused its questions Tuesday on what the complainant cannot remember around the time of the alleged incidents.

Defence lawyer Dan Scott cross examined the complainant, whose identity is protected by a publication ban. Scott asked the woman about completing a note-taking course around the time she first started as a police employee.

She testified that typically you "write down your daily entries" and that "you write down as much detail as you can."

When Scott asked the complainant if she took notes about any of the allegations against Price, the complainant said no.

"Yes, I did not write down anything about being sexually assaulted ... It was triggering me," the complainant testified.

"It was like a wound, like ripping off and reopening to constantly write it down … I was just trying to survive," she said. 

"I didn't write it down in my notebooks because I couldn't, because I was incapable of it."

'Some things I may remember exactly and some things I may not'

The complainant also filed an application with the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario (HRTO) outlining these same allegations that are before the courts. The HRTO process is ongoing.

During day one of the trial on Monday, the complainant testified that Price pinned her down on a couch at work and dry humped her in 2012. That's the same year mentioned in the HRTO complaint.

On Tuesday, during cross examination, the complainant testified the alleged assault on the couch took place in April 2011.

When asked how she remembers when the alleged sexual assaults occurred, the woman said "being a victim, I'm not going to remember exact dates."

"Some things I may remember exactly and some things I may not. I am a victim. My memories are being unlocked as I go along."

'My body just totally shut down'

The defence also brought up the complainant's allegation that Price aggressively grabbed her buttocks from behind while in a work hallway. She testified she was in the middle of a conversation with a police officer at the time, someone she considered a close family friend.

The complainant testified that the officer she was speaking to didn't react when she was allegedly grabbed, making the assumption he didn't notice.

"It would have been obvious to anyone" if Price grabbed your buttocks in an aggressive manner, Scott suggested.

"My body just totally shut down and I wasn't even able to help myself," the complainant testified.

The trial is scheduled to continue Wednesday.