Hamilton police officer testifies at colleague's trial after he pleads not guilty to sexually assaulting her

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

The sexual assault trial of Const. Jeffrey Turnbull began this week in Hamilton with Turnbull pleading not guilty, and a fellow officer testifying about sexual comments, inappropriate messages and assault she says occurred in 2022.

The woman, whose identity is protected under a publication ban, also underwent questioning by the defence, which took issue with a lack of written records supporting her accounts. 

On the first day of the trial Tuesday, the 28-year-old woman, who also works for the Hamilton Police Service, answered questions from Crown lawyer Jason Nicol. She testified Turnbull touched her without her consent over a period of months before sexually assaulting her.

Ontario's Special Investigations Unit, which investigates incidents involving police that lead to death, serious injury or sexual assault, publicized the sexual assault charge against Turnbull in June 2023. Justice Jennifer Marie Campitelli is hearing the case in the Ontario Court of Justice. 

Defence lawyer Joanne Mulcahy started her cross-examination on Wednesday. Turnbull was sitting beside Mulcahy and could be seen taking notes during much of the woman's testimony. 

On Tuesday, the woman said she met Turnbull in December 2021, about seven months after she was hired as a police officer. They were both constables on the same squad and he had more seniority than her, she testified.

She said that on one day in late December 2021 or early January 2022, Turnbull approached her in the lunch room, where she was alone. He made a comment about trying to find her on the social media app Snapchat, asked her if she was in a relationship and told her he had a wife and two kids, she told court.

Then, she said, he asked her what it was like to be a female police officer and warned her that people would likely be spreading rumours about her, since in policing, "everyone cheats on their partners." She said he also told her that if she ever reported any problems, she'd likely get in trouble at work. 

Woman says officer soon made her uncomfortable 

The two exchanged contact information, the woman said, and Turnbull soon started messaging her on Snapchat. The app is set to delete messages automatically, so while screenshots of some of the pair's text messages are exhibits in the trial, their Snapchat message history is not.

The woman said Turnbull messaged her daily and told him about his mental health, marital issues and "things he would want to do to me if we were alone."

"I was super uncomfortable," she said, adding she was in a committed relationship then and now.

The woman told the court Turnbull messaged her on Snapchat frequently and if she did not respond, he would message her more or text her. He would tell her she was sexy and sent photos of his penis at least twice, she said. 

She said she did not send him any photos in return. 

'I didn't know what to do'

On Jan. 23, 2022, the woman said, she messaged Turnbull to tell him the comments he had been making were inappropriate. The court saw a screenshot of that message from her. She told the court that she put together the message with the help of a mentor she had confided in. 

The day before she sent that message, she was injured and placed on modified duty at work, the woman said. For a period, most of her work was in the office. While she had no reason to see Turnbull, he started coming into her office, she testified.

On multiple occasions, she said, he would close the door and sit next to her. She described him making sexual comments, touching her thigh without her consent, kissing her and pulling down the zipper on her pants, saying she was unable to get away from him most times, in part because of her injury.

"I didn't know what to do," she said of one instance. "I was just stuck."

Over a number of weeks, he continued to message her in ways she felt were inappropriate, and would send her "many gifts," including chocolates and $112, she said.

The woman said she did not tell anyone about what was happening beyond the inappropriate messages.

"I was a brand new officer on my own … he had a ton of seniority over me," she said.

She added it's difficult to describe working for the police, but "you've got to be careful who you say things to."

She also said Turnbull had made it clear to her that if she reported something, she could be reprimanded.

"I was worried about my career."

Woman told fellow officer 'I didn't want this'

When she tried to establish boundaries, the woman said, or stop replying to him, he would tell her how bad his mental health was and talk about suicide. She would re-engage, concerned for his safety, she said. 

In March 2022, she said, Turnbull repeatedly invited her over while his wife was away. She said she refused but he started talking about killing himself and told her how much his kids wanted to see her dog, so she relented and went to the house. 

While there, she said, she found herself alone on a couch with him. Then, she said, Turnbull kissed her, grabbed her and pushed her into the couch. She said she couldn't get up fast enough because of her injury, and he took off her pants and underwear.

"I kept telling him I didn't want this. I wanted to go home," she said.

She said he took off his pants and penetrated her with his penis, ejaculating inside her. She said he told her not to worry about him not wearing a condom because he had had a vasectomy. 

Report by woman led to internal, SIU investigations

Immediately after that happened, she said, she went home but soon started getting messages from him. She said she told Turnbull she wanted to be left alone when she next saw him at work in April, but he kept messaging her. 

"At this point, I knew nothing was gonna stop unless it was reported," the woman said, so she went to her coach officer, who told her they should report it to a staff sergeant. 

"I was terrified. I was worried about my career. I worked really hard to get this job. It's not easy to be a female police officer," she told the court.

Ultimately, she made a report with her supervisors, leading to an internal investigation and the SIU investigation, for which she was interviewed on April 23, 2022. 

Defence points to lack of records

In her cross-examination on Wednesday, Mulcahy suggested some of the conversations between Turnbull and the woman may not have happened as she described.

For example, Mulcahy said, the woman did not tell police investigators or the SIU about him saying anything about reporting issues during their first one-on-one conversation. 

Mulcahy said the woman added him on Snapchat, not the other way around, and suggested she had sent him photos of her at a work Christmas party and a gender-reveal party, and sexted with him.

The woman said she posted photos for all her Snapchat friends to see and did not send any to Turnbull directly. She denied sexting with him.

Mulcahy also questioned her interpretation of certain text exchanges. In one exchange that was viewed by the court, Turnbull told her to "get your sweet [butt]" into the office, using a peach emoji, which commonly is used to refer to someone's behind. The defence suggested he could have been quoting his sergeant. 

Screenshot text messages read in court

Mulcahy pointed out there are no records of many of the conversations the woman alleges happened, and noted neither Hamilton police nor the SIU seized her phone. The text messages read in court were from screenshots provided by the woman.  

The defence also said that although a screenshot shows the woman telling Turnbull in January his comments had been inappropriate, that message did not explicitly tell him to stop messaging her or leave her alone.

The woman said she did tell him that in person and on Snapchat. 

Wednesday's cross-examination was interrupted as the lawyers and justice went into an in-camera session — in which members of the public are not allowed — to discuss a specific piece of evidence.

The trial continues Thursday.

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.