Sailor guilty of sexual assault
A military judge has found a Halifax-based sailor guilty of sexually assaulting a subordinate.
Military Judge Cmdr. Sandra Sukstorf found Master Seaman Daniel Cooper guilty of sexual assault and ill treatment of a subordinate on Monday.
Cooper had pleaded not guilty to the charges in relation to an incident aboard HMCS Athabaskan while the navy destroyer was visiting Spain in 2015.
Cooper took the stand in his own defence at his court martial last week and testified the sexual activity was consensual, but the victim, whose name is protected by a publication ban, testified he awoke to the naval communicator at Canadian Forces Base Halifax performing oral sex on him.
Both sides agreed that Cooper’s version of what took place in the sailors’ sleeping quarters on the night in question cannot be reconciled with the victim’s testimony, but they clashed over which account was more credible.
During closing arguments Saturday, Prosecutor Maj. Dominic Martin said Cooper and the junior sailor’s accounts of the night of drinking before the alleged incident were “pretty compatible’’ up until when the sailors returned to their sleeping quarters on the navy destroyer, which was docked in Spain as part of a NATO exercise.
Under cross-examination Cooper maintained that he twice asked the junior sailor if he wanted to engage in sexual activity and the other man agreed.
He had previously testified that after a night of drinking, he and the junior sailor went back to their sleeping quarters, and as they were talking by the other man’s locker, he noticed that he had become aroused.
Cooper said he asked the junior sailor if he wanted to become intimate and the other man agreed. He said he asked the other man again at his bunk before engaging in sexual activity.
During closing arguments, Martin asserted that Cooper fabricated the conversation near the locker in an effort to “absolve’’ himself of guilt.
Defence counsel Maj. Phillipe Boutin argued it was the victim’s account that lacked credibility past “the point of no return.’’
Boutin said the victim testified he could not remember many details during the period of time in question, especially those that may put him in a “bad light.’’
In previous testimony before the military court the victim said he feared for his safety and attempted to alert a crew member in the bunk below him — but he said his pleas for help went unanswered.