Defence wraps up case in sex assault trial of retired vice-admiral Edmundson

WARNING: This story contains details of an alleged sexual assault.

The defence wrapped up its case in the sexual assault trial of retired vice-admiral Haydn Edmundson on Wednesday with two witnesses who served as officers on the ship where the alleged attack is said to have occurred more than 30 years ago.

The case, which is being tried in the Ontario Court of Justice in an Ottawa courtroom by a judge alone, will hear final submissions in April. 

Edmundson, 60, was charged in December 2021 with one count of sexual assault and one count of committing indecent acts. He has pleaded not guilty. 

At the time of the alleged assault, Edmundson was lieutenant-commander, the navigator of the ship.

Over the course of the eight-day trial, court has heard from the complainant, who alleged that Edmundson sexually assaulted her inside his cabin while the ship was docked at a U.S. navy base on Nov. 8, 1991. 

Edmundson also took the witness box and denied the allegations that he sexually assaulted the woman, or had any physical or sexual contact with her.

On Wednesday, court heard from David Anderson, who was a lieutenant and deputy combat officer at the time of the alleged assault.

Anderson told court that when the ship was docked at a base, it would never be completely deserted, and that even in the evening, there would be dozens still on board to perform various tasks.

"There's a large contingent to take care of the ship while it's [docked. It's] never empty," he said.

A day earlier, during cross examination, Assistant Crown Attorney John Ramsay suggested that Edmundson realized the empty, docked naval ship was his last chance to make advances on the woman, an accusation Edmundson denied.

On Wednesday, court also heard from Keith Dewar, who was a lieutenant-commander and chief engineering officer, also at the time of the alleged assault.

Dewar told court that if someone had yelled in the middle of night and intentionally slammed doors on the ship, creating a loud bang, that that is something he likely would have heard.

"We would immediately [have] gone to investigate," Dewar said, adding that one of his jobs was being part of the ship's rapid response team.

"So if you had heard someone cry out, or you thought there might have been a casualty, you would have gone to investigate."

Last week, the complainant, whose duties included waking up officers for night duty, told court that a couple of days before the alleged sexual assault, she had an outburst when she went to wake Edmundson for his night shift and found him lying in the bed naked. The woman said she lost her composure, yelled and turned on the lights, in part to wake up Edmundson's bunkmate so he could witness the behaviour she had to deal with.

Edmundson testified that none of this ever happened. He also denied he had a bunkmate at the time this alleged incident would have occurred.

Edmundson has since resigned as head of military personnel command. He has also retired from the Canadian Armed Forces, something he was directed to do in February 2022, following being charged in this case, he told the court on Monday. He said he is currently unemployed.