N.S. nurse tells police review board that officer seemed to blame alleged rape victim

HALIFAX – A nurse who examined a Nova Scotia woman to collect evidence of rape is testifying at a hearing into alleged police mishandling of the case.

Carrie Low filed a complaint against the Halifax Regional Police and Const. Bojan Novakovic a year after she reported being sexually assaulted by at least two men in a trailer on May 18, 2018.

Jane Collins, a sexual assault nurse examiner, told the Nova Scotia Police Review Board today that she felt Novakovic’s detailed questioning of Low at the hospital the next day should have been left to officers specialized in rape cases.

Collins says she interrupted the interview because she felt the officer was blaming Low with questions such as why she didn’t cry out for help to police when she was confined in a car after leaving a bar.

The hearing has heard evidence that police were in a parking lot responding to a fight as Low was confined in a car by a group of men.

Collins told the hearing she had apologized to Novakovic for becoming angry and interrupting the interview at the hospital.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2023.