A defence witness has given evidence that seems to call into question some of the details of the alleged victim in the sex-assault trial of a Snowbird pilot Monday at the Barrie courthouse before also offering testimony that could now delay the completion of the case.
Testifying by video, the witness, who was the complainant’s supervisor at the time of the allegation, said she was “making up violence” and “adding on and adding on” to her original story.
Maj. Steven Hurlbut, 49, is charged in connection to the June 2023 incident at Allure Hotel in Barrie’s south end, the former Holiday Inn site on Fairview Road.
The woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban that applies to complainants in sex-assault cases, claims Hurlbut forcefully kissed her, tried to put his tongue in her ear and then prevented her from leaving his hotel room on the evening of June 8, 2023.
She testified to that effect last year at the beginning of the trial.
Testifying in his own defence last month, Hurlbut denied her claims, saying he merely invited her to his hotel room to discuss work issues related to the Snowbirds.
Hurlbut was on active duty and had been part of a fly-over at the Canadian Open golf tournament in north Toronto earlier that day and later attended the event before returning to Barrie that evening.
The alleged assault took place as the entire Snowbird team was in town to prepare for the Barrie Airshow that weekend. As part of the “home” flight crew, the woman didn’t typically travel with the Snowbirds, but was in Barrie for an audit of the famed aerobatics flight team.
In addition to the complainant, BarrieToday is not identifying the witness out of an abundance of caution both to protect her identify but also his, and because the man has been diagnosed with post-traumatic traumatic disorder (PTSD) and is no longer in the military.
“I’m not fit to serve,” he testified Monday when asked to explain why he left the Canadian Forces last year.
The man grew agitated on multiple occasions when he was asked by Crown attorney Hanieh Azimi about his memory of various text messages.
“I’m getting badgered here,” he said, referring to repeated attempts by Azimi to confirm individual texts he said he had no memory sending, but conceded they were from his phone because they were being displayed as such on screen in the courtroom.
“Please allow that to be my answer,” the man scoffed at Azimi, meaning that he accepted that he sent the texts, but that he had no memory of them.
The trial, before Ontario Court Justice Jodie-Lynn Waddilove, was nearing completion when the proceedings hit a speed bump because the witness said he likely alerted his superiors about the allegation against Hurlbut.
When Azimi asked the man if he could have sent on information to his superiors about the incident, he said he couldn’t precisely recall doing so, but acknowledged that it was likely.
“I’m very much in the business of covering my backside,” explained the man. “(This incident) was well above my pay grade, so (I would likely) have sent it up the chain of command.”
At issue after that admission is that no evidence was presented to back up the witness's belief he likely passed along the allegations to his superiors.
Despite having already set a date for final submissions, Waddilove was instead forced to scrub that date and send the matter to case management court next week to decide the next steps ahead of final submissions.
Whatever happens, the case now appears headed to completion in the spring in the judge-alone trial.
