Former Mountie on trial, accused of sexually assaulting nine year old girl

ASHERN, Man. — A trial has begun for a former RCMP officer charged with sexual assault and sexual interference involving a nine-year-old girl.

Robert Dowd has pleaded not guilty to the charges which stem from allegations the girl was inappropriately touched while her family attended a small gathering at a campground in the northwest part of the Interlake.

Ten people sat in a community hall in Ashern, Man., to hear the first day of testimony in the trial by judge alone.

The girl testified Monday with a support worker by her side and with a white divider separating her from the accused.

Court was told the girl was with her father, brother and six other people including Dowd, who was not on-duty at the time, at a campfire hosted by the accused.

She has alleged she was inappropriately touched while she was alone with the accused for a few minutes.

While she was on the stand, Crown prosecutor Minh Nguyen played video statements the girl gave to police hours after the allegations were made.

In one, the girl said Dowd asked her and her brother to go with him to look for a satellite in the night sky.

The girl’s father testified that on the drive home to their trailer about five minutes away, he asked his daughter if anything happened.

“My daughter was sitting very quietly and I could see the look on her face that something was not right,” the dad told court, adding she explained what happened when they got back to their camper.

The father, who said he only met Dowd that night through mutual friends, said he contacted a relative who drove him and his daughter to a nearby RCMP detachment to file a police report.

Under cross-examination, Dowd’s lawyer, Bruce Bonney, suggested the father went over the details of the incident with the girl before she gave her statement to police.

“I didn’t want her to forget to tell the officer the facts of what happened,” the father replied.

“Did you high-five your daughter when you found out he was being charged?” Bonney asked.

The father testified he did not, but Bonney told court the father’s ex-wife said in her statement that he did high-five their daughter.

RCMP spokesman Paul Manaigre said Dowd has resigned and is no longer a member of the RCMP.

The trial is scheduled to continue Wednesday morning and closing arguments are expected Friday.