Defence at Hamilton constable's assault trial argues sex between him and fellow officer was consensual

Warning: This story references sexual assault and thoughts of suicide, and contains graphic language

The defence in the trial of a Hamilton police constable continued cross-examination of the woman who has accused him of sexual assault, questioning the police officer Friday about inconsistencies in events she said happened and arguing that the two were involved consensually.   

The 28-year-old woman was questioned by the Crown on Tuesday, when she testified she went to Jeffrey Turnbull's house the evening of the alleged assault in March 2022 because she panicked when he messaged her about killing himself. 

The woman, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, testified Turnbull sent her inappropriate messages and touched her without her consent over a four-month period before he raped her in his basement.

On the third day of cross-examination, defence lawyer Joanne Mulcahy said Friday the woman never raised anything about suicide in 2022 interviews she gave to internal Hamilton police or investigators with Ontario's Special Investigations Unit (SIU). The lawyer read from interview transcripts in which the woman said Turnbull guilted her into coming over by telling him his children wanted to see her and his dog. The first time she mentioned suicide, Mulcahy said, was in a December 2024 interview with the Crown. 

Mulcahy said the woman created a justification for coming over because she knew people would wonder why she proceeded to do so.

The woman responded: "Talking about being raped is not an easy thing to do and it takes time."

Turnbull has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault in the Ontario Court of Justice trial being heard by Justice Jennifer Marie Campitelli in Hamilton.

'He made me scared to come forward'

At points during Friday's cross-examination, which started Wednesday, Mulcahy referred to transcripts of the woman's interviews with investigators and the Crown, and her testimony earlier this week, pointing out instances in which she described events inconsistently or said she was wrong about timing. 

For example, Mulcahy questioned the woman's earlier testimony, in which she said Turnbull told her she could get in trouble at work if she reported anything about them. 

"He made me scared to come forward and I almost didn't," the woman said Friday.

Mulcahy read 2022 transcripts of interviews with investigators in which the woman said Turnbull made her feel she would be disbelieved or reprimanded for reporting issues because that had happened to him. In those interviews, she did not allege he was referring to them specifically. 

Defence says officers kissed, sexted  

Throughout cross-examination, the defence has said the Hamilton Police Service officers sexted and talked about kissing — both denied by the woman.  

On Friday, Mulcahy described an alternate version of the unwanted touching and sexual assault that the woman testified about on Tuesday. She said the pair kissed consensually at work and met outside of work to kiss consensually again. Mulcahy also said the woman's recounting of a sexual assault was false.

When the lawyer said to the woman on Friday that she had verbally consented to have sex with Turnbull while in his basement, she denied it — among the multiple times she's said she said no to the constable. 

Mulcahy read in court from transcripts of the woman's 2022 interview with police investigators in which she said that at some point, she stopped saying no and wondered if Turnbull thought she was consenting. 

The woman said Friday that that didn't matter. "I said no once. One is all you need." 

On Tuesday, the woman testified that after she was assaulted in Turnbull's home, she did not see him until they were back at work.

On Friday, Mulcahy said the woman actually visited Turnbull twice the weekend of the alleged assault: On the Saturday when they had sex and again on the Sunday to bring her dog over to see his children.  

Mulcahy has asked the woman about messages the two exchanged, such as one about a coffee order, suggesting they didn't make sense if she wanted space from him. The woman has said she played along with Turnbull to dissuade him from messaging her more, even though he made her uncomfortable. 

"I would do what I had to do to make sure my life wasn't miserable at work," she said. 

Mulcahy suggested she has tried to hide that many of their conversations were "nice."

The defence did not finish its cross-examination on Friday, so the judge told Turnbull his trial would continue at the Hamilton courthouse on April 28. The justice, the Crown and defence committed to trying to find another hearing date before then. 

For anyone who has been sexually assaulted, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services via the Ending Violence Association of Canada database.