The same day COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, Ontario woman Emily Spanton boarded a plane at Pearson International Airport and flew to Paris. The travel wasn’t for leisure or business — Spanton is the key witness in one of the highest-profile criminal trials in France in recent memory.

In 2014, Spanton, 40, made explosive allegations that she was gang-raped by at least two French police officers inside 36 Quai des Orfèvres, the celebrated former police headquarters. Last year, the two accused officers were convicted of rape and sentenced to seven years in jail — then they quickly appealed, launching a retrial process.

Their new trial was scheduled to begin in the Paris suburb of Créteil on Tuesday.

But as France grapples with the COVID-19 pandemic — on Monday, President Emmanuel Macron said the country was “at war” with the virus and ordered residents to stay at home for up to 15 days — the retrial has been cancelled until further notice.

“I’m disappointed that the end is no longer visible,” Spanton told the Star from Paris. “My life continues to be on hold.”

For now, though, Spanton has more immediate concerns. She is among the untold number of Canadians clamouring to get back home after the federal government urged nationals to return from abroad as soon as possible.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it would not be possible to expect that all Canadians who are currently abroad will be able to come home immediately. Global Affairs Canada announced a $5,000 emergency loan for people who need help getting home.

Still, as the severity of the situation was becoming apparent over the weekend, Spanton was stuck in limbo, waiting on the status of her trial at a critical time. On Friday, Spanton’s lawyer told her the trial might not go ahead, so she began speaking with the Canadian consulate in Paris.

But she was advised not to change any plans until the case was officially cancelled. The order postponing the trial came Monday, approximately one hour before Trudeau announced that international flights would be limited to four Canadian airports — “at which point flights were fully booked,” she said.

With no flights available until next week, she is staying put in her rented apartment in Paris’ 20th arrondissement, a densely populated neighbourhood on the east end of the city. The grocery stores are open, though there are empty shelves, and she is well equipped, she said — her apartment has a microwave, hot plate and laundry.

And she is also not alone: A friend came with her from Canada to support her during the trial.

“We don’t feel travel home is safer than staying put, isolating in our apartment,” Spanton said. “We feel we are safer here for a few days while things die down.”

The Guardian reported Monday that Paris alone had nearly 600 hospitalized cases of COVID-19, with more than 120 in intensive care. In the five days since she arrived in France, Spanton has observed a noticeable difference in Parisians’ behaviour since late last week.

On Tuesday morning she went to the store to pick up necessities, snapping photos of near-empty streets.

“The mood is starting to change from the complete ignorance of Saturday to one of caution, though I would definitely not describe it as panicked,” Spanton said.

Normally, the city is loud with the commotion of daily life.

“Now, I hear a multitude of birds. It’s actually quite beautiful.”

Spanton, who is the daughter of a former Toronto police officer, opted to waive her right to anonymity and first revealed her identity to the Star in 2016, so that she could speak openly about her allegations and about sexual assault and consent more generally.

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The Star does not identify victims of sexual assault unless they choose to be named.

Spanton’s lawyer, Sophie Obadia, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Pascal-Pierre Garbarini, lawyer for one of the two accused men, confirmed to the Star Tuesday that the trial was postponed indefinitely, noting “the current health crisis is upsetting our daily life and the judicial agenda.”

Spanton alleges that while she was visiting Paris in 2014, she met a group of off-duty cops at an Irish bar and accepted an invitation to tour police headquarters across the street. Once inside, she alleges she was raped by at least two officers.

The allegations spawned an expansive, two-year probe that included a French investigative judge travelling to Canada to interview Spanton’s family and ex-husband. Later, Paris police took DNA samples from more than 100 officers in an attempt to identify the cops involved, before France’s public prosecution office sent the two officers to trial.

The two officers have maintained their innocence throughout.

“I should never have brought Emily Spanton to the BRI offices. All my life I’ve had good relationships with women. I never, never, never assaulted, attacked or raped Emily Spanton,” one of the men said in a statement to the court shortly before sentencing, according to French media.

Lawyers representing the officers did not respond to requests for comment from the Star.

Anne-Laure Compoint, lawyer for the other officer, said during the 2019 trial that it wasn’t possible to prove, beyond doubt, that there had been a lack of consent, according to Agence France-Press.

Sébastien Schapira, the lawyer representing the first officer during the 2019 trial, told the Associated Press last year that the verdict was a shock because both officers are innocent.

“We will fight this and win because in France there is justice,” he said.

Wendy Gillis is a Toronto-based reporter covering crime and policing. Reach her by email at wgillis@thestar.ca or follow her on Twitter: @wendygillis

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