Mounties settle lawsuit with Kelowna-area woman over ‘abusive interrogation,’ pledge to ‘review and update our sexual-assault investigative training, practices and policies’
This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.B.C. Mounties say they have to improve the way they investigate allegations of sexual assault after settling a lawsuit brought by a Kelowna-area woman who, when she was a teenager, was asked during police questioning if she enjoyed the sexual assault.
What followed was a two-hour interview, recorded in a video widely distributed last year after Ms. Withers obtained a copy and released it to the media. Ms. Withers has asked that her name be released. “Hall intentionally and repeatedly used reprehensible, suggestive questions during the two-hour interrogation to undermine the confidence and integrity of the plaintiff.”The claim said Ms. Withers suffered “emotional distress, humiliation, shame and embarrassment, [and] suicide attempts” as a result of the actions of the defendants.
No one was ever charged in the assault. Ms. Withers attended a restorative justice program that led to her apologizing to her alleged attacker, the statement of claim said. She said the RCMP and her social worker told her she would be charged with mischief if she didn’t take the program. Of the officer who questioned her, she said, “I hope that he has learned his lesson and that he doesn’t conduct himself in this manner [again].”
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