Defence opens case at British sailor’s sexual assault trial

A British marine says a woman who alleges she was gang raped by at least three sailors made a sexual comment when he knocked on the door of a noisy barracks room at a Halifax-area military base.

Cpl. Brandon Hubbs, a member of the Royal Marines, testified in Nova Scotia Supreme Court that he was trying to sleep at 12 Wing Shearwater, but there was noise coming from the room where the alleged sexual assault happened in April 2015.

He says he and another member of the British navy hockey team, who were in the Halifax area participating in a naval hockey tournament, knocked on their door.

Hubbs, the defence’s first witness, says his teammate opened the door and asked the occupants to quiet down, and that’s when he heard a woman say: “You’re just jealous you’re not getting some.”

The marine says he recognized the voice as the complainant in the case, because he saw and heard her in the hallway earlier that evening.

Darren Smalley is charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm and participating in a sexual assault involving one or more people.

The Crown closed its case Wednesday with a witness testifying a sailor accused in the gang rape exposed his buttocks to another woman that night.

Sarah Rutledge testified she was at 12 Wing Shearwater hanging out with two friends and members of the Royal Navy hockey team they had met at a downtown Halifax bar a few nights before. Rutledge said at one point in a barracks room, the lights turned off and it was “pitch black” for about 10 seconds, and then sailor Darren Smalley suddenly appeared in front of her.

“When the lights were turned on, Darren’s butt was right in front of my face. He mooned me,” the 25-year-old woman told Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Patrick Duncan.

Rutledge said she thought it was weird because she did not know Smalley, but she was having a fun night, so she laughed it off.