The trial of a former Snowbirds pilot accused of sexual assault began Tuesday at the Barrie courthouse.
Maj. Steven Hurlbut, 48, who flew with the Canadian Forces aerobatic team, is alleged to have assaulted a female member of the military on June 8, 2023, in the days leading up the the Barrie Airshow.
The air show was held over Kempenfelt Bay on the weekend of June 10 and 11, as part of a cross-country tour.
Hurlbut, originally from Calgary, joined the Snowbirds team in 2021. He's a veteran fighter pilot, having flown combat missions in Iraq and Syria.
None of the allegations have been proven in court and a publication ban protects the identity of the alleged victim.
The woman was on the stand Tuesday, where she faced questions from the Crown attorney.
The woman claims Hurlbut invited her to come back to his hotel room, as the flight team and its crews stayed at a Fairview Road hotel in Barrie.
After arriving in his room to watch The Simpsons on TV, she testified Hurlbut was sitting on his bed, while she sat on an ottoman in front of a chair.
Hurlbut is claimed to have asked her, “so you wanna?” She says she replied, “no."
She claims Hurlbut then walked over to her, sat in the chair behind her, put his arms around her and pulled her against him as he began rubbing her belly.
With her left arm above her head and her other wedged along her body, she said Hurlbut again asked “so you wanna?” to which she said she again answered no.
When she turned her head to look up at him, Hurlbut is alleged to have kissed her on her mouth using his tongue.
“My mind just said ‘get out,’” she told the court.
The woman said she told Hurlbut “no thank you. I’m flattered, maybe next time.”
After he allegedly kissed her again, she started walking to the hotel room door to leave, when Hurlbut “grabs her tight” and “aggressively” pulls her into him, court heard.
She claimed he kissed her again and puts his tongue in her mouth, before moving it into her right ear.
She testified she couldn’t move. She said she was in “absolute terror” and that “time took forever.”
Hurlbut, dressed in a blue suit, sitting at a table next to his defence lawyer, spent most of the woman’s testimony looking down at the table.
She said she pushed Hurlbut away, said “goodnight, 'Stu',” which was his nickname, and left the room to return to her own hotel room on a different floor.
The next morning, court heard Hurlbut sent her text messages without addressing the alleged incident.
Several days later, Hurlbut sent the woman another text, saying “are you OK?” She never responded due to feeling “anxious and confused,” she told the court.
“Did you consent to this?” the Crown asked her after reviewing each of the interactions in question.
“No,” she answered each time.
Later in the day Tuesday, Hurlbut’s defence lawyer began his cross-examination of the woman, asking her about her mental state at the time due the lack of sleep brought on by her insomnia, and to her being overworked and “over-tasked” by her military superiors.
The court session ended for the day before the defence could ask more questions.
The trial is scheduled to resume Oct. 18 at the Barrie courthouse.
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