CORNER BROOK, N.L. — Three times in the fall of 2012, a woman testified in provincial court in Corner Brook Monday, she received obscene phone calls on the landline at her home.
The woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, is the complainant in the case against former Corner Brook Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer Sean Kelly.
Kelly is charged with making indecent telephone calls to the woman.
It’s the second time he has faced such a charge.
Kelly was convicted in February 2015 for making obscene calls to a young woman at her place of work and mischief in October 2012.
He was sentenced to 10 months, but appealed his conviction and sentence only to have them upheld upon appeal to the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador in September 2017.
He further appealed that decision to the Newfoundland and Labrador Court of Appeal and in April that court decided to uphold the earlier appeal decision and his original convictions.
Kelly’s current charge had been set over during numerous court appearances while the appeal process played out.
His trial finally began Monday.
The complainant was the fourth witness to be called by Crown attorney Sheldon Steeves.
She said the calls were from a man who called her by name and made references to sexual acts.
During the mid-September 2012 call, she repeatedly asked who the caller was and while she felt the voice was familiar, couldn’t tell who it was.
On Oct. 15 the man called again. The first call came around 5:15 p.m. It was short. The caller said, “hello sexy bitch,” and then cut the call off saying he had to answer a beep.
She remembered thinking the voice was familiar.
The second call came in between 9 and 9:30 p.m. and started again in a similar way. When she asked who it was the caller said, “you don’t remember me.”
The woman said she was having the call traced and the man hung up.
She said the calls made her feel “scared” and “uncomfortable,” and she contacted the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
The police suggested she change her phone number, which she did, but nothing else happened with her complaint.
In March 2013, she contacted the RCMP again after seeing news reports of Kelly being charged with the other offence. She had suspicions that Kelly, who as an acquaintance of hers, could have been the man who called her.
Kelly had been a member of the RCMP-RNC joint forces drug team at the time the allegations against him were made.
An RCMP officer who investigated the woman’s complaint in March said a production order for a RCMP issued cellphone used by Kelly showed that there were three or four calls that appeared on the phone that lined up pretty much exactly with the times and dates of calls reported by the complainant.
Kelly’s trial will continue on Tuesday.
