Former Sudbury, Ont., police officer found guilty of 2007 sexual assault

Wayne Foster, a former police officer with the Greater Sudbury Police Service, has been found guilty of sexual assault in connection with an incident Aug. 24, 2007. (CTV News file photo from 2011)

Wayne Foster, a former police officer with the Greater Sudbury Police Service, has been found guilty of sexual assault in connection with an incident Aug. 24, 2007.

The victim was 17 at the time and the assault took place on an elevator, according to the Ontario Court of Justice decision released Dec. 23.

"The evidence permits no reasonable inference that the alleged touching was consensual or that Mr. Foster held a mistaken belief that it was," the ruling said.

"There is likewise no inference available that the touching described was not sexual in nature. The case thus revolves entirely around issues of credibility and reliability."

"Ultimately my task is to consider whether the evidence as a whole leaves me with any reasonable doubt about the guilt of the accused," Justice Graham Jenner wrote in his decision.

The victim testified that she and Foster were alone on the elevator when he pushed her to one side of the compartment. He then slid his hands down her pants, forcibly kissed her and slid his other hand under her blouse and grabbed her breast.

Shocked, the victim said she froze at that point. A short time later, the doors opened and Foster exited the elevator.

She said Foster sent her an email a few months later asking to meet, asking if she ever had sex with "a black man."

The victim didn't respond. She didn't see Foster again until she was in her early 20s, when she saw him at a grocery store in the city.

Greater Sudbury Police headquarters on Brady Street. (File)

"She described rounding an aisle and seeing a bald head, then recognizing the accused," the court decision said.

In his testimony, Foster said he joined the Sudbury police in the late 1980s and was the first black officer in the city's history, "and was the only one for five or six years."

Had a 31-year career

He retired in 2015 after a 31-year career.

Foster was contacted about the case in 2022 by the Special Investigations Unit, but said he didn't remember the person accusing him.

He also denied all the accusations.

"He denied taking the elevator ride she described," the decision said.

"He completely and forcefully denied the allegation of sexual assault."

In his ruling, Jenner said the woman was a credible witness.

"She did not profess to have a perfect memory," the judge said.

"Where there were differences in her evidence, or differences between her evidence and prior statements, she acknowledged them. When she could explain them, she did. When she could not, she was frank about it."

The details she gave about the assault also rang true, Jenner said.

Testimony rang true

For example, her "description of the scorched metal area that she fixed on during the brief assault struck me as something out of place in false account. Additionally, she was not sure whether Mr. Foster intended to slip his hand inside her pants. This is an odd concession to include if the allegation was fabricated."

While there were some inconsistencies in her statements, the judge rule they were minor and could reasonably be attributed to the passage of more than 15 years since the incident.

In contrast, he said Foster "was confident and certain about some things not having happened, in circumstances where I would expect him to have no clear memory."

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For example, he testified there was no chance he was in the elevator on the day the assault took place. But he also testified there was nothing remarkable about that afternoon.

"That Mr. Foster was so certain he did not use an elevator that afternoon causes me great concern that his evidence on this point is tailored so as to eliminate his opportunity to have committed the offence," Jenner wrote.

"My view as to the strength of the complainant’s evidence was unshaken by the arguments advanced, considered individually and cumulatively. I do not believe the evidence of Mr. Foster. Nor do I find his evidence raises a reasonable doubt. My conclusions in this regard are grounded in the combined strength of NL’s evidence, which I accept, and the identified flaws in his own evidence."