Police reopen sex assault case after Anonymous posting draws attention

HALIFAX – Police in Halifax say they have reopened an investigation into an alleged sexual assault after the group Anonymous posted a call for renewed action on social media.

Police spokeswoman Lauren Leal said Friday that investigators originally responded to a call from a third party about an alleged sexual assault in the city on Nov. 1.

She says the alleged victim initially told police she was sexually assaulted but later decided she did not want to proceed and police respected her wishes.

The file was assigned to the sexual assault investigation team.

“The way we handle sexual assaults is, we don’t move forward with an investigation if they don’t feel comfortable. … It can sometimes take time for the victim to reflect and deal with the initial trauma of the incident … and then after some time feel more comfortable moving forward,” Leal said in an interview.

“That’s exactly what’s happened here.”

Leal said the sexual assault team noticed social media comments under a video Anonymous posted on the Internet indicating the woman might be willing to proceed, and this played a role in investigators’ decision to contact her last week.

“I’m sure the creators of the video would like to take full credit (for the case reopening), but really the credit goes to the victim. It is not unusual that victims would want to take some time to deal with their trauma before feeling comfortable,” she said.

A person who said he was with Halifax Nova Scotia Anonymous said the group felt compelled to take action.

“Anonymous stepped in because they saw the police weren’t going to do their job,” he said in a telephone interview late Friday.

“We would never, ever put out a video, a post or a picture that we know wasn’t 100 per cent true … We verify it extensively — several people. It’s a team. It’s not just me.”

In the video, a distorted, digitized voice urges police to renew the investigation and calls for charges to be laid by Monday.

Leal said that’s not how a police investigation works.

“Unfortunately, we can’t begin and wrap up an investigation in that short a time. We need to do our due diligence. We need to conduct interviews … and that’s not going to happen overnight,” she said.