On two separate occasions in the span of six weeks, a uniform on-duty Toronto police sergeant stopped a different young woman who was alone downtown, offered her a ride home, then assaulted her once they were inside his police vehicle, a court heard Wednesday.

“He was a police officer, I trusted him. That's why I got in the car,” said the first complainant, who was 27 at the time of the alleged assault.

“I expected to trust an officer of the law,” said the second complainant, who was 25 when she alleges she was assaulted.

Both women, whose identities are covered by a publication ban, testified at the first day of the criminal trial of Sgt. Christopher Heard, a veteran Toronto officer facing two counts of sexual assault, incidents that are alleged to have occurred in the fall of 2015.

Heard has pleaded not guilty. He is currently suspended with pay from the Toronto Police Service.

The charges were laid last year by the Special Investigations Unit (SIU), Ontario’s civilian watchdog that investigates police. According to the SIU, the first incident occurred around 1 a.m. on Sept. 24, 2015, when Heard is alleged to have sexually assaulted the 27-year-old woman inside his vehicle after picking her up near Wellington St. W. and Blue Jays Way.

He is accused in a similar incident on Nov. 1, 2015, when he is alleged to have sexually assaulted a 25-year-old woman after picking her up near King St. W. and Blue Jays Way.

Each complainant claims that once inside the police vehicle, Heard touched her inner thigh. In both cases, the women say they immediately told him to stop.

The allegations in the November incident came to light after the complainant in that case saw news coverage of the SIU charging Heard in connection to the September incident. She says she recognized his photo, realized she had been picked up in a similar location, and recalled that the officer who she claims assaulted her was named Chris.

“I couldn’t turn the other cheek once I read that,” she said, explaining why she reported her alleged assault.

The first complainant said she had been meeting a friend for dinner and drinks in the area of King St. West and Blue Jays Way on Sept. 23, 2015. After midnight, she and her friend parted ways and she was heading home with her bike when she says Heard stopped and offered to drive her home.

She said when she initially declined, he insisted, and she thought: “‘He is not leaving me alone, so I'll take a free ride home,’” the woman testified.

She said Heard placed her bike in the police vehicle, sat in the driver’s seat, and “he told me that I am really beautiful . . . almost instantly he reached over and put his hand on my inner thigh.”

She said she immediately told him to stop, and out of anger she began chastising him, she said.

“I said you probably have a wife and kids at home. I said you're picking up girls on shift, that's so creepy,” the woman testified.

The second woman claimed that Heard assaulted her after picking her up from a Halloween celebration at a club on King St. She said she had unsuccessfully been trying to flag a cab when Heard drove by and offered her a ride home.

She accepted, and the drive was “peaceful” until they arrived at her residence, when the woman claimed Heard touched her inner thigh, causing her to “slap his hand away.”

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At the time of both alleged assaults, Heard was supervising a group of constables in downtown Toronto’s 52 Division.

Gary Clewley, Heard’s defence lawyer, questioned the first complainant on her timeline of the events on the night in question, saying that her friend told SIU investigators they had met up for drinks several hours earlier than the complainant had stated.

When questioned on how many drinks she had over the course of the evening, the woman said she believed she had two glasses of wine and stated definitively that she was not drunk.

“I’m going to suggest to you that you weren't fit to ride your bike,” Clewley said, asking why she was walking her bike at the time Heard offered her a ride.

“That's not true,” the woman replied.

Heard is also facing three counts of professional discipline under Ontario’s Police Services Act in connection to the first alleged assault, including for failing to activate his in-car camera on the night in question. According to the disciplinary documents, his failure to turn on his in-car camera means there is no video or audio recording of his contact with the 27-year-old woman, “contrary to Toronto Police Service governance.”

Those documents also state that Heard is accused of failing to inform the police communications operator of his whereabouts after picking up the first alleged victim, and of belatedly writing up an account of that encounter in his police notes after learning the woman filed a complaint against him.

It is not clear if the second sexual assault charge has prompted additional disciplinary charges. Toronto police did not respond by deadline to a request for additional tribunal documents.

The criminal trial continues Thursday.