Accused cop sought out lone women, Crown says

TUESDAY, SECTION GT DEATHS, GT4 MARKETPLACE, GT11 Judge to decide fate of officer facing two sex-assault charges

A Toronto police officer accused of sexually assaulting two women in his police cruiser on separate occasions had a clear modus operandi: seek out lone women in the Entertainment District who appeared to be intoxicated and offer to drive them home, the Crown argued in closing submissions Monday.

Sgt. Christopher Heard’s lawyer, Gary Clewley, countered that neither of the two complainants is reliable nor credible and that Heard should be acquitted on both counts.

The two women and Heard testified at the judge-alone trial before Ontario Court Justice Russell Otter about incidents in the fall of 2015 that began with Heard offering each woman a ride home late at night from the Entertainment District, where he was on duty.

Sgt. Heard’s lawyer argued that neither of the two complainants is reliable nor credible

Prosecutor Roger Shallow said both women, who do not know each other, gave very similar accounts of being inappropriately touched by Heard while they were in the front seat of his police cruiser. “It obliterates any notion of coincidence,” he said.

Heard, 46, was under investigation for the first alleged sexual assault on Sept. 24, 2015 when the second alleged sexual assault took place on Nov. 1, 2015.

The identities of the two complainants, both in their twenties, are protected by a publication ban.

Clewley said the first complainant clearly had a “hatred” of the Toronto police, regarding them all as “liars and cheats” due to an incident where she was issued a peace bond.

“He was a living, breathing and moving reminder of what she believed was a great injustice perpetrated upon her,” Clewley said.

Shallow argued her evidence was not embellished, but clear, consistent and honest.

He pointed to her describing Heard as being initially pleasant and being clear that both times he touched her inner thigh he stopped when she objected.

Someone with such a hatred of police “would not be so fair in their recounting of events,” he said.

The second complainant maintained she had a “photographic memory” of that night but made several mistakes, such as claiming Heard was driving a police van with a sliding door rather than a cruiser and that she texted Heard after she got into her home, though phone records do not support this, Clewley argued.

Shallow said the woman may have had trouble recalling peripheral matters, but remained unshaken on the core of the allegation. She only came forward after reading an article about Heard being charged — she didn’t come forward earlier because she didn’t think she would be believed, he said.

Shallow argued Heard did not tell dispatch he was giving a young woman a ride home, that he was leaving his jurisdiction, that he did not turn on the in-car camera system, all to “create opportunity for wrongful conduct to take place without detection.”

Clewley said Heard candidly admitted his procedural mistakes and that he said he has driven hundreds if not thousands of impaired people home over his 27-year career out of concern for their safety.

A judgment is expected on Oct. 25. With files from Wendy Gillis