Military kept alleged sex assault 'in-house' at complainant's request: witness

A Halifax-based military police officer told investigators that he had consensual sex with a female officer while on a naval exercise overseas and was "shocked" when he found out he was being accused of sexual assault.

Sgt. Kevin MacIntyre made the comment during a two-hour statement videotaped by police on June 28, 2016, that was played in court by the prosecution Wednesday during his court martial hearing in Halifax.

MacIntyre has pleaded not guilty to the sexual assault charge resulting from an alleged incident on Sept. 27, 2015, during a deployment in Glasgow, Scotland.

"So that's the story; it's that you guys had sex," the investigator asked MacIntyre just after the interview began.

"That is true," said MacIntyre. "I am not going to deny that … but it was consensual. It wasn't what the allegations are."

MacIntyre told the investigator that his team had arrived in Scotland following an overnight flight and branched off on various tasks before meeting for dinner at a restaurant near the hotel on the evening of their arrival.

He said the group ate, had drinks and socialized throughout the evening.

MacIntyre said a group of four, including himself and the complainant, headed back to the hotel bar sometime between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m.

After about 15 or 20 minutes in the bar, MacIntyre said he and another female officer walked the complainant back to her room. Once inside, he said he sat on the edge of the bed as the two women talked. He said he and the second officer left soon after.

MacIntyre said he reached his room and realized that he didn't have his jacket that had his room key and wallet, which contained about $1,000 worth of euros.

After searching the bar and knocking on the hotel doors of two other Forces members and getting no answer, MacIntyre said he passed the complainant's door and could hear that she was awake inside. He said he knocked and she let him in.

MacIntyre said he found his jacket on the floor next to the bed where he inadvertently set it down during his first time in the room.

He said they ended up talking while lying on the bed and eventually began kissing after he had asked to go under the covers because he was cold.

"We started kissing and then one thing led to another and it started progressing from there," he said.

He said they had sex and eventually fell asleep. MacIntyre said he left early that morning while the complainant was taking a shower.

'Mistakes happen'

He told the investigator that the complainant later called him and came to his room to talk shortly after breakfast.

"She goes, 'What happened last night?' And I'm like, 'I know, I'm dumbfounded too."'

He said they expressed remorse to one another because they are both married, and he said that he "just wanted to forget about it."

"She said absolutely this doesn't go outside this room … mistakes happen," MacIntyre recounted.

The investigator later asked him why the complainant left his room and immediately reported the incident to her superior.

"This stays hush, hush, that was basically the first thing she said," MacIntyre said. "That's why I'm shocked that this has even come out, because she was adamant that we don't talk about it."

The investigator told MacIntyre that the investigation was necessary, especially in light of a military policy governing overseas behaviour known as Operation Honour or "Ops Honour."

MacIntyre became increasingly irritated when the investigator continued to press for his thoughts on why the complainant would come forward.

"What's the value in it?" he said. "Does she want to play the victim because of this Op Honour thing? I don't get it."

Complaint kept 'in-house'

Earlier Wednesday, a senior non-commissioned officer testified that his immediate superiors were told about the allegations.

"We decided to push it higher," he said, adding that a decision was made to keep it "in-house."

He was asked by prosecutor Lt. Jennifer Besner what he meant.

"[The complainant] told us that she didn't want to make a big deal of it or go higher because she didn't want anybody to find out."

He said the complainant appeared distraught in the following days.

"She was shaken and she was worried," he said. "She wasn't herself."

The officer made a formal complaint in March of 2016. The woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, testified Monday she awoke to find MacIntyre in her bed. She said she hadn't slept for about 36 hours after travelling from Canada and going straight to work in Glasgow on Sept. 26.

She told the court martial that she didn't scream or yell during the alleged assault, but told MacIntyre "No," as she was forced to continually remove his hand from her lower extremities "10 to 15 times."

She said he eventually penetrated her. The complainant said she believes she "just froze."