Complainant cross-examined as sexual assault trial of former SMU groundskeeper continues

Warning: This article contains graphic content. Discretion is advised.

The woman who says she was sexually assaulted by a former Halifax university groundskeeper was cross-examined by his legal defence team on Wednesday.

Matthew Albert Percy is accused of sexually assaulting a Dalhousie University student at her residence building on Dec. 6, 2014.

The former Saint Mary’s University groundskeeper has pleaded not guilty to a charge of sexual assault causing bodily harm and the trial is being heard by judge alone in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.

The complainant’s identity is protected by a publication ban.

Peter Planetta, the defence counsel questioned the complainant on testimony she provided Tuesday — inquiring on the gaps in her recollection of the night she alleges she was assaulted.

She has responded that the gaps are a combination of her intoxication on the night in question and the six years that have passed since the incident occurred.

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The complainant has testified that Percy did not use a condom during sex and that non-consensual sex occurred multiple times throughout the evening.

On Wednesday, the complainant told the court that her lack of memory left her unable to state definitively whether or not she had verbally expressed consent to the sexual activity before Percy had forceful anal sex with her.

Planetta asked the complainant if she said yes when Percy asked her to have anal sex.

“No, I never said that,” she replied.

1:55 SMU groundskeeper sentenced for sexually assaulting woman in dorm room

The complainant has testified that Percy did not stop despite multiple protests and cries of pain.

Planetta also attempted to pin down the inconsistencies between the statement she gave to police a few days after the assault and the testimony she has given under oath in court.

He asked why she had testified that she had cried and said no in a loud, shrill voice during anal sex, when her statement to police included no mention of those details.

The complainant said that she was likely traumatized by the event at the time and felt like she was not able to explain to police what had happened fully and in her own words.

Charges weren’t laid until four years after she made her complaint, when Percy was accused of other sexual assaults.

He was convicted in 2017 of sexually assaulting a woman on Saint Mary’s University campus while he was acquitted in a separate sex assault trial in 2018.

Thursday will see two Halifax Regional Police officers testify.

The trial is scheduled to sit until March 3.