Considering an ex-officer’s order to ‘close’ the rape file, contested at the NS hearing
HALIFAX — A former RCMP officer who testified last week that he was ordered to stop investigating an alleged sexual assault in Halifax is being cross-examined today.
Jerell Smith told the Nova Scotia Police Review Board that he was assigned to the Carrie Low rape case, but was immediately told to close the file by a sergeant who doubted her story.
Low filed a complaint alleging police officers mishandled the investigation after she reported that she drove to a Halifax-area home on May 18, 2018, and was raped by at least two men.
Ted Murphy, the attorney for the Halifax Regional Council, wondered if Smith had looked closely at the file when he received it and asked him why he didn’t immediately retrieve Low’s clothing as evidence after she told him it was at her parents’ house .
Smith reiterated that he was told by a Staff Sergeant of the Joint RCMP-Halifax Regional Police Sexual Assault Unit to “close” the file.
Low’s complaint is against the Halifax Police Department and Const. Bojan Novakovic, who was the first officer to interrogate her.
She has appealed against Novakovic, who was given eight hours’ pay for his handling of her case, and Low is also seeking wider recommendations to improve police handling of sexual assault cases.
In a separate lawsuit, an internal RCMP investigation charged Smith with wrongdoing for failing to collect Low’s clothing and process tests for a date-rape drug when he was lead investigator.
The investigation found that Smith should receive training to avoid similar mistakes, but he never returned to work at the RCMP.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 17, 2023.
