HALIFAX -- A Nova Scotia woman who says the investigation of her sexual assault case was mishandled has had her complaint against police reinstated.
Justice Ann Smith of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court has ruled that the Nova Scotia Police Complaints Commissioner erred in dismissing a complaint from Carrie Low on the grounds that it was filed too late.
Low alleges that after she was taken in a car to a site outside Halifax and assaulted on May 19, 2018, police failed to promptly visit the scene, interview a witness or have her clothing and blood tests processed in police labs.
The office of the police complaints commissioner notified her last year that her May 13, 2019 complaint against the Halifax Regional Police wouldn't be reviewed because the six-month time limit to report police misconduct had passed.
The judge says that it was unreasonable for the commissioner to conclude the time limit for Low to file a complaint ended six months after the alleged assault.
Smith notes in a decision dated Wednesday that Low only learned in April 2019 that police hadn't sent her clothing and blood samples for testing.
