The Chronicle Herald (Provincial)
Woman drugged, raped at Halifax party
Police yet to charge man with sexual assault from 2020
Editor’s Note
The following contains descriptions of sexual assault which could be triggering to some readers. A list of resources for survivors of sexual assault can be found at the bottom of this article.
A woman was drugged at a Halifax party, raped and choked until her eyes rolled back in her head more than a year ago.
But police still haven’t charged the man she identified as her attacker.
In the early hours of July 12, 2020, the young woman went to a party at an apartment at 1263 Queen St. where she “consumed alcohol and became violently sick after just a few drinks,” Det.-const. James Bennett of the Halifax Regional Police says in documents he filed in Halifax provincial court to get a warrant in the sexual assault case.
“After about 20-30 minutes in the washroom (the woman) went to find her friend who is a nurse thinking her drink had been drugged.”
When she tried to get a glass of water in the kitchen, she was interrupted by a man she had exchanged Snapchat messages with earlier, says the detective. She later identified him through social media as her attacker.
She told police he “said to her that he wanted to have sex with her, but she declined.”
HE ‘KEPT GRABBING ONTO HER’
The man “kept grabbing onto her and (she) advised him to stop because she was too sick,” says the detective.
The man “grabbed her hand and pulled her out into the stairwell and started kissing her,” says Bennett, who has more than 20 years of policing under his belt.
The woman “continued to say no as she was too sick.”
Instead, he “lifted her up and took her to the floor below,” says the detective, noting that “all the while” she continued to say no.
The man “turned her around and ripped off her clothes and started having sex with her,” Bennett says in his sworn statement, noting her attacker did not use a condom.
Near the end of the sexual assault, he “choked her causing her to be short of breath causing her eyes to roll back in her head,” says the detective.
She then went back to the party and “vomited some more,” Bennett says. “With the help of her friends she returned safely to her Airbnb rental.”
She “remembers waking up the next morning and felt like she couldn’t breathe and was confused.”
The woman returned to her home in New Brunswick that morning and reported the incident to her parents, says the detective.
She went to the hospital “where a sexual assault examination kit was completed,” Bennett says, noting the clothing she was wearing during the attack had not been washed and police collected it for evidence.
The woman had been visiting a cousin in Halifax that weekend.
She and her friends had gone to the party, but the woman told police she was careful about the amount of booze she drank.
SHE’S BEEN DRUGGED BEFORE
She “had not consumed any more alcohol than previously, knowing how much she could handle,” Bennett says. “Based on a previous incident in her life where she was drugged, she felt she had the same symptoms.”
Police photographs taken just after the sexual assault “show fresh bruising on her body. Specifically, around her throat,” says the detective. “This is consistent with someone having their hand on her throat and choking her as she had indicated in her statement. There was also fresh bruising on her forearms and biceps that appears to be similar with someone having grabbed her arms.”
The detective names a 23-year-old Dartmouth man in court documents as his chief suspect in the case. But court records show police have not charged the man with sexual assault, more than a year after the event took place. He has a minor criminal record, mostly for motor vehicle violations and accidents, as well as impaired driving.
After the examination by a sexual assault nurse, police seized the woman’s clothing she had worn to the party, including her underwear. They sent samples to the RCMP National Forensic Laboratory for testing.
INVESTIGATORS CREATED DNA PROFILE
The lab was able to create a DNA profile for the man who attacked her from two biological samples taken from her underwear.
Bennett also checked out the suspect’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.
Police got a warrant for the suspect’s DNA back in November of 2020. “The warrant was not executed before it expired,” the detective says, noting another officer first assigned to the case had been off sick, then unable to locate the suspect before the warrant expired.
Bennett requested a second warrant “in hopes to obtain a DNA sample” from his suspect in the sexual assault case to compare with the DNA found on the victim’s underwear. He made the request on March 29, 2021.
This time he wanted the warrant to be valid for 120 days, as police had trouble finding their suspect the first time around.
Taking DNA samples from the suspect could involve plucking some of his hairs, taking swabs of his lips, tongue and inside his cheeks, or taking a blood sample, says the detective.
SAMPLE OBTAINED IN SPRING
Police managed to track down the suspect this time, and get a sample of his DNA, according to an April 8 request the detective made of a justice of the peace to keep the sample at Halifax Regional Police headquarters on Gottingen Street for three months.
The Chronicle Herald asked police if investigators are still waiting for lab work in the case, or if the Dartmouth man has been cleared as a suspect in the sexual assault.
“We don’t confirm information in relation to a named individual unless that person has been charged and the charges have been sworn before the courts,” was their response.
Resources for victims of sexual abuse and sexual assault:
• Victim Services Emotional Support — 1-902- 490-5300
• Independent Legal Advice for Sexual Assault Survivors Program — 2-1-1
• The Sexual Assault and Harassment Phone Line — 1-902-425-1066
• Mental Health Mobile Crisis Team — 1-888-429-8167
• Transition House Association of Nova Scotia — 1-800563-2945