Judge orders police to release files of Mountie investigated for sexual assault

ABBOTSFORD, B.C. – A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ordered the Abbotsford Police Department to release documents in its investigation of an RCMP officer accused of sexually assaulting a minor league hockey player he coached in the 1980s.

However, Justice David Masuhara has issued a publication ban on information that could identify any other complainants in connection with the investigation between 2004 and 2009.

Robert Callan alleges Donald Cooke gained his trust as assistant coach of an Abbotsford midget league hockey team before assaulting him.

The ruling says the investigation of Cooke’s alleged actions included interviews with RCMP officers with whom he served in other provinces and documents noting complaints of sexual assault made against Cooke by other young players.

Cooke has never been criminally charged, and his lawyer argued that details in the police files regarding his client’s homosexuality would be embarrassing.

A lawyer for the Abbotsford Hockey Association, also a defendant in the case, argued for full disclosure, saying names of others who accused Cooke of sexually assaulting them is relevant because no one currently with the association has any knowledge of what happened in the 1980s.