Sexual assault nurse surprised by complainant’s injuries, U.K. sailor’s trial told

A nurse who examined a young Halifax woman after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by British sailors says she was surprised by some of her injuries, describing the case as one of the more “significant” she has handled.

Paula Nickerson, who was working as a sexual assault nurse at the time of the alleged incident in the barracks of a Halifax-area military base in April 2015, says she found a number of bruises and injuries on the woman.

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Nickerson testified in Nova Scotia Supreme Court that there were certain injuries on the complainant’s genitals that surprised her because they were not injuries she had commonly found before on sexual assault complainants.

She says the variety and number of injuries on the woman’s genitals made it one of her more “significant” cases in her eight years as a sexual assault nurse.

She testified that certain injuries were consistent with non-consensual sexual activity, but conceded under cross-examination that there were other possible causes.

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Darren Smalley is charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm and participating in a sexual assault involving one or more people in the barracks of 12 Wing Shearwater.

The complainant has testified that she was gang raped by at least three men.

The case once involved four accused, but charges against two other sailors were dropped, while charges against another man were stayed earlier in the trial because of illness.