This article contains details about an alleged sexual assault
A verdict in the sexual assault trial of retired Navy Vice Admiral Hayden Edmundson, who is accused of assaulting a woman more than 30 years ago, is due to be handed down in an Ottawa courtroom on Monday.
Edmundson, who was also the military’s former head of personnel affairs, was charged with one count of sexual assault and one count of indecent conduct in December 2021. He has pleaded not guilty.
Because the case was heard judge-alone, Matthew C. Webber of Ontario Court will hand down the sentence.
During the eight-day trial that began on February 5, the court heard allegations from Stephanie Viaud, who claimed Edmundson sexually assaulted her while she was deployed on a Navy ship.
Viau said the attack took place in Edmundson’s cabin while the ship was docked at a US naval base on Nov. 8, 1991. At the time of the attack, Edmundson was a lieutenant commander and the ship’s mate.
Viaud’s identity was protected by a publication ban, but at Viaud’s request, Weber lifted the ban during closing arguments.
The court heard her life was in danger.
Viaux told the court that Edmundson called her to his room, and when she was there, she said she froze and feared for her life as he approached her, kissed her, unbuttoned her shirt and bra, pulled down her shorts and underwear and kissed her genitals.
Viaux said Edmundson then grabbed her around the waist, turned her around and “started raping me.”
However, during his trial, Edmundson denied sexually assaulting Viaux or having any physical or sexual contact with her.
The court heard that Viaux’s duties on board included waking officers, including Edmundson, for the night shift.
She testified that on one particular assignment, when she tried to wake Edmundson, parts of his body were exposed.
She said that a few days before the alleged sexual assault, she went to wake Mr Edmundson for the night shift, found him lying naked in bed and became emotional.
She lost her cool, screamed and turned on the lights, partly to wake Edmundson’s roommate and force him to witness what she had to deal with.
Edmundson testified that this never happened, and denied having anyone sharing a room with him at the time.
The prosecution did not dispute some facts:
In closing arguments, Edmundson’s attorney, Brian Greenspan, said prosecutors had refused to challenge Edmundson on several key facts in the case, including the alleged sexual assault and Edmundson’s assertion that he had no roommates.
Greenspan also said Viaux identified two people he thought were Edmundson’s roommates, but that later turned out to be inaccurate.
Greenspan also argued that if Viaux had made such a tantrum, it would have been heard by other crew members on the ship, but no evidence of this was presented.
But assistant prosecutor Juliana Martel said Viaux was unwavering in her testimony, had no contradictions and gave a highly detailed account of the alleged sexual assaults.
Martel also noted that Viaux was very specific about what happened on the night of the alleged verbal abuse, and rejected the defense’s argument that Edmundson did not have a roommate at the time.
Greenspan and Martel also cited the testimony of a friend of Viaux who was on board the ship at the time.
The now-retired military officer, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, corroborated Viaux’s account that they had planned to go to a bar on land when the ship docked in November 1991.
The woman said she and another colleague went on the boat that evening to search for Vio.
WATCH | Edmundson testifies in his own defense:
When they couldn’t find Viaud, they assumed she had already left the boat and was in the bar, the witnesses testified. Viaud testified that she was in Edmundson’s room when she heard a friend calling her name.
But Greenspan said the testimony from the woman was “tainted” because the details she recounted were not from her own recollection. He said those accounts were provided to him by CBC News reporter Ashley Burke, who interviewed witnesses in March 2021 and provided her with many of the details about what happened that day.
Martel disagreed, saying the woman had appeared in court and given sworn testimony about her recollection.
