N.S. RCMP officer cleared of sexual assault allegation

An RCMP officer accusedof sexually assaulting a woman in the Pictou, N.S., area has been cleared of the allegation.

The province's police watchdog, the Serious Incident Response Team (SIRT), started an investigationNov. 7afterPictou District RCMP received a call alleging a male RCMP member had sexually assaulted a woman.

The investigation determined there had been sexual encounters between the woman and theofficer, whoknew each other, but that all encounters had been consensual, SIRT said in a news release Tuesday.

The report said the woman was a young adult and the accused officer was "significantly older."The complaint had been made by another member of the community.

According to the full report, the woman saidtheir various sexual encounters over a number of months were consensualand she did not want the RCMP officer to get in trouble.

The report said the woman gave SIRT consent to access photographs and messages on her cellphone, whichshowed the two "exchanged many electronic messages, affectionate, but not sexual, in tone."

SIRT'sinvestigation was completed on Nov. 15. The report concluded that there was no abuse of power or authority by the RCMP officer, and no grounds to lay a criminal charge against him.

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