Judge wonders why other officers didn't testify in sexual assault trial of Windsor cop

The Windsor police officers said to have witnessed alleged sexual assaults didn't testify in a trial of another cop, and the presiding judge is wondering why.

During closing submissions on Friday, Justice Jennifer Myers asked both lawyers why no other witnesses were called in the trial of Staff Sgt. Ken Price, who is facing four counts of sexual assault.

"I do wonder why we didn't hear from anybody on either side," said Myers.

In this week-long trial, only two people testified — the complainant and the accused.

Crown attorney Nicolas de Montigny says the lack of other witnesses "should not be reason to disbelieve [the complainant]."

The complainant made four allegations against Price between 2011 and 2015 that she said occurred at the police training branch:

• Price is alleged to have pressed his body against the complainant's backside. 
• Price is alleged to have pinned her down on a couch and dry humped her.
• Price is alleged to have forced the complainant to grab his crotch while she was helping him put on protective gear.
• Price is alleged to have grabbed the complainant's butt in an aggressive manner.

Price took the stand in his own defence on Thursday and denied all of those allegations.

During her testimony, the woman named several officers who had seen the alleged incidents. For example, she said that after Price finished dry humping her, one officer who saw told him to stop or she wouldn't come back.

"He didn't it a laughing way," she testified. "They just downplayed his behaviours."

Defence says complainant had a 'memorized script'

On Friday, defence lawyer Dan Scott urged the judge to listen back to the audio testimony of the complainant when questioned by both sides.

"It's almost verbatim. It's almost cut and paste," said Scott. "She had memorized her script prior to taking the stand."

But de Montigny said the woman was "unshaken in cross examination" and was both "credible and reliable."

"She did not attempt to embellish. She did not attempt to guess," said de Montigny. "When there were gaps in her memory, she explained why."

Throughout the trial, the defence focused a lot on the fact that the woman couldn't remember exact dates, years or even seasons of the alleged assaults.

"In terms of timing generally, memory is a funny thing … and when you're trying to remember traumatic experiences I think the things that come to mind are the things that are relevant," said Myers.

Allegations too triggering to make notes, complainant says

But the defence points to a lack of entries in the complainant's police notebook about the alleged sexual assaults.

She testified to not writing those down because it was too triggering for her.

"It really defies logic that you could not put something in a notebook that would earmark something unusual at the time. It really, really defies logic," said Scott.

Even though Myers isn't expected to render a decision until Wednesday, she did provide her opinion on some parts of the trial.

When Price grabbed the woman's butt from behind, Myers said, "one would think that you would at least flinch."

Judge takes issue with some of Price's testimony

There was also conflicting testimony on whether Price was always wearing what's known as a FIST suit when he was inside the battle area for training scenarios.

The judge had "trouble" with Price's testimony when he talked about how seriously people treated these training scenarios.

"We have evidence from Mr. Price that he can't go in there without a [protective] suit because he could mistakenly be shot [with fake bullets] and could die," said Myers.

"If it's always that dangerous and they could always die, aren't they going to protect the civilians who are in the room even more than themselves?"

Myers is expected to deliver a verdict on Wednesday. 

The complainant's identity is protected by a publication ban.