Horrific Allegations Revealed in Toronto Police Gang Rape Case

Warning: This article contains graphic content about an alleged sexual assault.

A parking enforcement officer has accused three Toronto police officers of raping her vaginally, orally, and possibly anally, according to disturbing details released in a court document Tuesday.

Last February, Toronto cops Leslie Nyznik, 38, Joshua Cabero, 28, and Sameer Kara, 31, pleaded not guilty to sexual assault and gang sexual assault stemming from an incident that took place in January 2015. The three men are colleagues who work in 51 Division downtown; they were each released after posting $15,000 bail.

The complainant cannot be identified because the crime is a sexual assault. On Tuesday, however, a judge overturned a publication ban on the information to obtain a search warrant, a document used to gather evidence in the case. It recounts the complainant's version of events on the night the alleged assaults took place and afterwards, which have been published in the Toronto Star and National Post.

The complainant told police she knew the three officers and was invited out for a "rookie night" by Kara in January 16, 2015. Upon her arrival at a bar downtown, she said Kara bought her a drink and she spent most of the night hanging out with him—they kissed while getting tequila shots, she said. But he went outside to puke and then was taken back to a hotel room he'd booked for the night. She said she continued to party with Nyznik and Cabero at Pravda Vodka Bar and the Brass Rail strip club, and they went back to the hotel room to grab Kara and keep drinking. At the hotel room, she said she felt very drunk and laid down beside Kara, trying to wake him up.

The complainant said she was immobilized and unable to speak. She told investigators she remembers Nyznik inserting his penis into her mouth and that one of the men took her jeans off. She recalled being penetrated vaginally. She told police she believed it was Cabero, and that the two men may have switched places.

Kara, who she alleges was lying down beside her, at one point said, "Josh, stop she is out."

She later recalled Kara asking to kiss her and then being penetrated vaginally again.

When she woke up, she said Kara was asleep beside her and she grabbed her clothes and went home, where she vomited and passed out in her bathroom. The following day, she had a rape kit examination at Scarborough Grace Hospital, during which a nurse found evidence of anal penetration.

The complainant said she didn't remember being anally penetrated, but recalled one of the officers asking "should I fuck her in the ass?"

She said she told a friend and fellow parking enforcement officer about the incident but was scared to report it to police, because it involved fellow officers. She did report it about 10 days later, after calling in sick to work and having a panic attack when she did go in.

That colleague knew the three officers and told investigators Nyznik and Kara told her everything that happened that night was consensual. She alleges the two men said the complainant had sex with Kara and Cabero and gave oral sex to Nyznik. Another officer who was at the party told investigators "all women want these two guys," while a bartender who was working that night—Nyznik's ex girlfriend—described the complainant as a "disaster."

Mike McCormack, president of the Toronto Police Association, told VICE he cannot comment because the matter is before the courts.

At the time of the arrests, Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash said the accused officers have been suspended with pay, which is standard under the Police Services Act. Once the criminal process plays out, he said there would be a Police Services Act investigation, through which the maximum penalty is dismissal.

A preliminary hearing is set to take place in July.

Photo by Jake Kivanç

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