Regina sailor charged with sexual assault at Halifax base
Accused was charged Jan. 22 and is scheduled to appear in Halifax provincial court on March 4
A reservist with HMCS Queen, a unit from Regina, has been charged with sexual assault over an incident alleged to have happened at CFB Halifax in March 2018.
In June 2018, military police in Halifax reached out to the Canadian Forces National Investigation Service (CFNIS) to report a complaint it had received from a third party about a possible sexual assault against another military member on the base in March.
The accused was employed full-time at CFB Halifax at the time.
The Department of National Defence has released few details about the nature of the allegations.
The accused was charged Jan. 22 and is scheduled to appear in Halifax provincial court on March 4.
CFNIS is an independent military police group mandated to investigate serious and sensitive matters in the Canadian Armed Forces.
In a news release, the military said CFNIS determined this case should proceed in the civilian criminal court system rather than a court martial in the wake of a decision by the Court Martial Appeal Court of Canada.
The appeal court ruled last September that the inability of soldiers, sailors and aircrew to elect trial by jury for serious crimes (those punishable by five years or more in prison) amounts to a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
The military prosecution branch has appealed the appeal court's decision and the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the case on March 26.
As a result, the CFNIS said it will not lay charges in the military justice system for such cases as the alleged Halifax sexual assault until the Supreme Court rules on the merits of the appeal.