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This article was published 30/10/2017 (1058 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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CFB SHILO — The victim in an alleged sexual assault claimed she could not say no to the unwanted advances of a higher-ranked soldier, a military court heard.

Closing statements were provided Saturday on the sixth consecutive day of a standing court martial into allegations against Warrant Officer Jason Buenacruz, who has since retired from the Canadian Armed Forces.

Buenacruz, a senior non-commissioned officer, and the female soldier who accused him, were stationed at CFB Shilo at the time of the alleged offence. She cannot be identified, as per a publication ban.

On Saturday, prosecution lawyer Saloumeh Torani portrayed the female soldier as being incapable of objecting to an officer she considered an authority figure. She worried that denying his advances would harm her career in the military, since he was a friend to her supervisors.

Both soldiers admit she performed oral sex on him, in his vehicle, at a parking lot in Brandon on May 11, 2016. The defence, however, argues the deed was her idea. She was seeking a friend with benefits arrangement, where money might be exchanged.

In Torani’s submission to the court, she said Buenacruz’s actions were "indicative of a premeditation to engage in a sexual act."

After earlier discussion, in-person and by phone, Buenacruz ordered the complainant meet him in his vehicle on the morning in question, where she found the back seat folded down and a blanket laid on top, Torani said. He asked if she still wanted to do this, before the sexual act began.

Video surveillance confirms that she entered his vehicle. At one point, she’s seen stepping outside the vehicle to spit something out of her month.

He propositioned an exchange of money in an earlier discussion between the soldiers, Torani said, but no cash ever changed hands.

During an earlier cross-examination of the accused, Buenacruz said he never told the complainant that she had to do this, questioned if she was scared, or asked if she felt pressured to give oral sex because he’s a higher-ranked soldier.

"He knew he was doing something wrong. He hid this action from his unit and the police," Torani said, alluding to earlier cover-ups, such as telling military police he was picking dandelions at the time of the alleged offence.

"He simply took his position and induced her to commit a sexual act," Torani said.

The complainant’s lawyer also alleged that he preyed on her since she was ostracized in the military, which, Torani claimed, meant people would believe him before her.

In response, defence lawyer Denis Berntsen objected to the complainant’s accusations of sexual assault, describing it as an "outright lie."

Earlier in the trial, the complainant said, "he had pushed me to make the offer," which the defence took as her admitting that engaging in oral sex was her intention. Alternatively, the "offer" she was referencing was driving to Brandon to meet him, the complainant insisted.

Buenacruz’s counsel said the female soldier’s motivation for making up the sexual assault was to get out of security duty while on training exercise. Berntsen claimed that since previously accusing two military members of harassment didn’t excuse her from security duties, she assumed a more serious allegation, sexual assault, would.

The two harassment accusations remain under military investigation.

Berntsen went on to suggest the complainant was fully capable of objecting to the sexual act if she wanted. While they were intimate, she rejected his offer to lick a part of his body and she prevented him from touching her vagina.

If the complainant’s motivation to perform a sexual act was to avoid career detriment, Berntsen asked, "why wouldn’t that fear have been just as real" with the actions she objected to?

In a bid to discredit the complainant’s testimony, the defence called up numerous witnesses last week. During questioning, they stated that the soldier had developed a reputation in the military, even before the alleged assault, of poor credibility, Berntsen said. "Even her friends acknowledge that."

Buenacruz faces one count of sexual assault, two charges of disgraceful conduct, one charge of obtaining sexual services for consideration and one charge of conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline.

The sexual assault complaint was made to the Canadian Armed Forces’ sexual-misconduct response centre, which was launched after Operation Honour, a program designed to help stamp out sexual misconduct in the military, went into effect in 2015.

The complainant previously told members of her unit of Buenacruz’s actions, but they did not report the alleged offence to the sexual-misconduct response centre.

"The unit did not take proper steps to deal with the sexual assault at the highest level," Torani said. The inaction on the part of the soldier’s unit was evidence, she said, of the "sick and toxic environment" the complainant was in.

The judge is expected to announce his decision on Tuesday.

» ifroese@brandonsun.com

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