Teen who accused taxi driver of sex assault overcome by emotion during cross-examination

The teenager who has accused a Happy Valley-Goose Bay taxi driver of sexually assaulting and threatening to kill her became emotional and was unable to respond while being cross-examined on Thursday. 

The girl was 14 in June 2017, when she said Joseph Cooney assaulted her in his home after giving her a ride.

Cooney, 65, has been charged with sexual interference, sexual assault, uttering death threats and forcible confinement.

Cooney, along with a gallery full of people, watched the cross-exmination on a video screen as the girl testified from a nearby room and the lawyer spoke from a courtroom in Wabush.

Cooney's lawyer, Edmund Montague, asked the teen several questions relating to her statement she gave to police — specifically, why she had chosen to walk home that particular night instead of getting a ride from her mother, as she usually did.

The girl — who cannot be identified — said it was because her mother was working various shifts at the time and would likely be tired or asleep.

Montague pressed the teen several times about why she decided to walk home that night, and the teen became emotional and appeared to be crying.

In previous testimony, the teen said she knew Cooney from a ride she took in his taxi with a friend — before the incident in June 2017 — and that Cooney had been friendly during that time.

She previously testified that Cooney said he would kill her if she told anyone what happened.

The trial continues in Happy Valley-Goose Bay provincial court Thursday. 

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