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A nurse who examined a Nova Scotia woman to collect evidence of rape is testifying at a hearing into alleged police mishandling of the case.
Carrie Low filed a complaint against the Halifax Regional Police and Const. Bojan Novakovic a year after she reported being sexually assaulted by at least two men in a trailer on May 18, 2018.
Jane Collins, a sexual assault nurse examiner, told the Nova Scotia Police Review Board today that she felt Novakovic’s detailed questioning of Low at the hospital the next day should have been left to officers specialized in rape cases.
Carrie Low, right, hugs a supporter during a break in her testimony at a Nova Scotia Police Review Board hearing in Halifax on Monday, July 10, 2023. Low alleges the Halifax Regional Police and Const. Bojan Novakovic, the first officer to interview her, mishandled her 2018 sexual assault case after she reported being forcibly confined and raped by at least two men in a trailer in East Preston, N.S.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese
Collins says she interrupted the interview because she felt the officer was blaming Low with questions such as why she didn’t cry out for help to police when she was confined in a car after leaving a bar.
The hearing has heard evidence that police were in a parking lot responding to a fight as Low was confined in a car by a group of men.
Collins told the hearing she had apologized to Novakovic for becoming angry and interrupting the interview at the hospital.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2023.
© 2023 The Canadian Press