Police officer’s trial hears ex-partner’s claims she was subjected to sexual assaults

The claims were made at Belfast Crown Court where the 55-year-old policeman is standing trial on a total of nine offences — including three counts of rape, two counts of voyeurism and charges of both common and sexual assault.

The officer, who can’t be named for legal reasons, has denied all the charges which his former partner has claimed were committed over a period from June 2000 to November 2017.

As she gave evidence via a videolink, the mother-of-two claimed she was subjected to sexual assaults in two family homes in east Belfast, and when they attended a wedding in Co Down in September 2010.

The jury of nine men and three women heard that in August 2020 the former couple had separated and were no longer in a relationship but were both still living in the family home.

At that time they had separate bedrooms, and following a row in the defendant’s bedroom on the evening of August 21, 2020, he called 999 as he felt he was going to be assaulted by the complainant.

When police arrived, he voiced his concerns — and when officers were at the family home she made a counter-allegation that she had been assaulted by him on previous occasions.

She was then interviewed and she made a series of allegations regarding multiple sexual and physical assaults.

The interview she undertook with the PSNI was recorded and played to the jury, and under cross-examination by defence barrister Neil Connor, she was questioned about her allegations.

These included claims that whilst together as a couple, they had consensual sex in March 2007 after the birth of her son, and that after she experienced pain she said: “I asked him to stop, but he didn’t stop immediately.”

She also claimed she was subjected to another serious sexual assault again in September 2010 after attending a wedding. On this occasion, she said she was pregnant and didn’t want to have sex.

She alleged that she had to force him off her, telling the jury: “He asked for it, I said no, then he forced himself on me.

“I was shouting at him to stop. I was pregnant at the time and I was concerned about that.”

The policeman was also accused of acts of voyeurism, which included making a video of them having consensual sex when they were still a couple.

She said she felt “sick and disgusted” when she realised she had been recorded on his mobile phone and said: “I didn’t give my consent to him videoing us having sex. He didn’t ask me, he just went ahead and did it.”

Mr Connor asked why she stayed with her partner given he had subjected her to sexual assaults and rapes, and also questioned why she waited until he called the police in 2020 to make the allegations.

The complainant said it was a “difficult situation”, that “it was always in the back of my mind that I wanted to make a complaint” and she added: “I didn’t feel brave enough.”

At hearing.