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Police sources confirmed a sexual assault charge had been laid in the case, but no arrest made because the suspect was no longer in Canada. The charge was laid in absentia.

Morin takes some relief from the situation, but still feels the justice system has failed her. “I’m happy that I feel safer, that I won’t have to see him on the street. But I still feel justice has not been done. They should have done something to make sure he couldn’t leave the country.”

Photo by Julie Oliver / Ottawa Citizen

Morin knows her alleged attacker only by his first name and what she assumes is a shortened version of his last name. She says she met him on campus. “He seemed nice,” she said, explaining that, after some texting exchanges, she thought a “friendship” was blossoming.

Then, on the night of Sept. 25, three days after her birthday, she attended a party at his apartment. Half-a-dozen other men and women were there. At one point, she said the man invited her into his bedroom for a private birthday drink.

Morin said she repeatedly rejected his advances. He allegedly responded by hitting and choking her and then raping her.

Afterward, she was able to leave the apartment — but not, she said, before he spit on her.

Back at home, she called police. They began their investigation by taking her to hospital where over several hours she endured a rape kit test and had her bruises documented.

On Nov. 4, the investigating officer, Det. Patricia Urquhart, with the sexual assault unit, informed Morin the case had been closed. “The original detective called me and said he (the suspect) thought it was consensual, and that I was just playing hard to get. Apparently for him to think it was consensual was enough for (the police) to close the case.”