Sailor’s court martial on sex charge delayed
A court martial for a member of the Royal Canadian Navy accused of sexual assault and ill treatment of a subordinate has been delayed because his lawyer withdrew from the case due to “irreconcilable differences.’’
Master Seaman Daniel Cooper, a naval communicator at Canadian Forces Base Halifax, briefly appeared before military judge Col. Mario Dutil on Tuesday in Halifax.
Cooper’s lawyer, Maj. Alexandre Gelinas-Proulx, told Dutil he was applying to withdraw due to “irreconcilable differences,’’ but he did not elaborate on the nature of their differences.
Dutil agreed to the request and told Cooper to retain another lawyer as quickly as possible. Gelinas-Proulx agreed to liaise with the new defence lawyer to allow for a smooth transition.
The charges against Cooper stem from an alleged incident in November 2015.
Military police said at the time the complainant was also a member of the Forces and both men were participating in a training exercise on board the navy’s last remaining destroyer, HMCS Athabaskan, off the coast of Spain.
The Canadian Forces have been attempting to clamp down on sexual misconduct in the ranks since l’Actualite and Maclean’s magazines reported in April 2014 that a large number of military sexual assaults were being ignored or played down.