Canada
A woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by Haydn Edmundson on a naval vessel could not have woken up his bunkmate during an alleged outburst over seeing his naked body exposed because the retired vice-admiral was sleeping alone during that time, his lawyer charged on Wednesday.
Retired vice-admiral Haydn Edmundson has pleaded not guilty, denies any wrongdoing
Mark Gollom · CBC News
· Posted: Feb 07, 2024 2:54 PM EST | Last Updated: 1 hour ago
Retired vice-admiral Haydn Edmundson, left, charged with one count of sexual assault and one count indecent exposure, heads into an Ottawa courtroom Wednesday morning accompanied by his lawyer Brian Greenspan. Edmundson has pleaded not guilty and denied all wrongdoing. (Mark Gollom/CBC)WARNING: This story contains details of an alleged sexual assault.
A woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by retired vice-admiral Haydn Edmundson on a naval vessel could not have woken up his bunkmate during an alleged outburst over seeing his naked body exposed because the retired vice-admiral was sleeping alone during that time, his lawyer charged on Wednesday.
“I suggest to you the reason you haven’t been able to identify a co-sleeper is that ….. [then] lieutenant commander Edmundson had no co sleeper,” Edmundson’s lawyer Brian Greenspan said in an Ottawa courtroom Wednesday morning.
“That is incorrect,” the woman said
Greenspan, during cross-examination, suggested to the woman that Edmundson did have a roommate, but he had departed before the alleged outburst incident occurred, meaning Edmundson did not have a roommate at that time.
“Isn’t that the truth,” Greenspan asked.
“That is not the truth,” the woman responded.
Cross-examinationEdmundson, whose sexual assault trial began Monday, more than 30 years after the attack is alleged to have occurred, is being tried in the Ontario Court of Justice by a judge alone. He was charged in December 2021 with one count of sexual assault and one count of committing indecent acts.
Edmundson has pleaded not guilty, and denied any wrongdoing. He has since resigned as head of military personnel command and retired from Canada’s Armed Forces.
The woman, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, has alleged that Edmundson sexually assaulted her in November 1991, when their ship had been docked at a U.S. naval base.
Court has heard that the woman’s duties on the ship included waking up officers for their night shift.
But she told court that just a couple days before that alleged sexual assault, she’d had an outburst when she went to wake Edmundson up for his night shift and found him laying in the bed naked.
The woman said she lost her composure, yelled and turned the lights on in the quarters so that the other officer who was sleeping in the top bunk could witness the behaviour she had to deal with.
She also told court that she later saw that officer in the mess tent eating but that he avoided eye contact with her.
Court heard that the woman had initially identified someone whom she believed to be the roommate but investigators later determined it wasn’t that individual. Court also heard she identified a second individual but he, too, was never Edmundson’s roommate.
Injured shoulderGreenspan also raised questions about the woman claiming to have seen Edmundson’s exposed genitals, suggesting that was not possible because Edmundson “never slept without underwear.”
The woman again said that that was incorrect.
Court has previously heard that during some of the times the woman would have had to wake Edmundson up for night shift, he had his shoulder in sling as he had dislocated his left arm during an exhibition rugby game during one of the port stops.
The woman told court that she didn’t recall Edmundson having injured his shoulder or wearing a sling.
But Greenspan suggested on Wednesday she couldn’t have seen Edmundson sleeping on his stomach with part of his buttocks exposed because he was unable to sleep in that position due his dislocated shoulder.
“I disagree with you, Mr. Greenspan, that he could not have been. I witnessed it. I don’t care what anybody thinks. This is what I had to go through,” she said, getting emotional.
Heated exchangesThe morning involved a series of heated exchanges between Greenspan and the woman, who was, at times, overcome by emotion.
During one testy exchange over the identify of the alleged bunkmate of Edmundson, the woman turned to Justice Matthew C. Webber to complain that Greenspan was pointing a finger at her and that it was a microaggression.
“I would ask that he refrain from pointing fingers like this and that he can keep this conversation respectful,” she said. “I will not accept any microaggressions.”
Webber asked that they lower the temperature.
The trial continues this afternoon.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mark Gollom is a Toronto-based reporter with CBC News. He covers Canadian and U.S. politics and current affairs.
