Teen girl’s mother testifies to seeing bruises allegedly caused by N.B. RCMP officer | CBC News

The father of a teenage girl who accused an RCMP officer of repeatedly assaulting her during a brief courtship when she was 16 has testified the officer liked to “flex,” or show off his power and his weapons. 

Const. Osama Ibrahim even pulled over two drivers for no apparent reason just to impress the father and his family, who were following the cruiser in their own vehicle, the father testified Tuesday. 

“It was just a show,” the man said of one of the traffic his family witnessed.

The man, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of his daughter, was testifying on the second day of Ibrahim’s trial in Saint John.

Ibrahim, 29, is facing five charges — assault, sexual assault, choking during an assault, using or threatening to use a weapon during an assault, and breach of trust.

Ibrahim, who worked with the RCMP in the Woodstock area at the time of the alleged offences, pleaded not guilty last December to all five charges.

On Monday, the now 18-year-old complainant spent the entire day in the witness box and returned Tuesday morning for continued cross-examination by defence lawyer T.J. Burke. 

She told the court she first met Ibrahim in December 2021, when she was 16 and he was 27. She said Ibrahim showed up a couple of times in uniform at her workplace. The visits became more frequent as Ibrahim struck up a friendship with the girl’s father and brother. 

Officer intended to propose marriage

By early January 2022, Ibrahim was visiting her house regularly and by late January, he told her he intended to propose marriage, she testified on Monday.

On Tuesday, her father said the family were very happy to have an RCMP officer as a friend. He said he highly respects police officers and “the beautiful uniform.” 

Although both parents believed their daughter was too young to marry or become engaged, they gave their blessing for Ibrahim and the girl to get to know each other. 

That’s when he became domineering and violent when they were alone, the girl told the court on Monday. 

She said Ibrahim would hit, pinch and bite her. He pulled her hair, slapped her face and would use his considerable size advantage to push her around. 

She said he was also misogynistic — often belittling her age and gender. She said he would tell her to “shut up,” that she didn’t know anything and that girls weren’t allowed to have an opinion. 

On Tuesday, her father told the court that he didn’t suspect Ibrahim was mistreating his daughter.

But the girl’s mother told the court on Tuesday that she knew — or at least suspected. She said she sometimes heard her daughter pleading with Ibrahim in the next room,  “Please, Osama, stop.” 

Girl’s mother concerned

The mother said she would hurry to her daughter and ask if everything was OK. She said Ibrahim would get upset with her and ask “What’s the problem.” 

Although her daughter would insist there was nothing wrong, the mother said she was concerned.

“I’m scared,” she said of her feelings at the time. “I’m not feeling good.” 

The mother said she initially liked Ibrahim, but he soon changed. She said he talked “too much” and constantly bragged about being a police officer.

“At that time, I’m not feeling good for him,” she testified, but she kept quiet because she thought her daughter liked him. 

Because she was concerned about her daughter, she told her son to sit with the couple and play video games on his phone and if anything happened, he was to videotape it. 

The mother also said Ibrahim would also always show up in his police uniform and would sometimes take off his duty belt, complete with service pistol and Taser, and ask her to put it in her room and “don’t tell anybody.” 

She said he even left his gun belt there at least one time while they went out to supper. 

In cross-examination, Burke challenged the mother about that occasion, suggesting it did not happen.

Her cross-examination came to an abrupt end on Tuesday afternoon amid concerns about the Arabic translation. The trial is scheduled to continue on Wednesday morning with a new interpreter. 

Alleged improper use of police car

On Tuesday, the complainant’s father told the court that Ibrahim would often use a marked police cruiser to visit his family-owned business in Saint John and would usually leave it running on the street, sometimes for several hours at a time. 

The father said a city employee even called Saint John police after midnight when Ibrahim had left the vehicle running for about six hours. 

The man said Ibrahim became angry and started yelling at the person who reported it. 

“Why would you call the cops. Are you stupid?” the man said Ibrahim had yelled. “Can’t you see it’s a police car?”

Prior code of conduct allegations

By the time the 16-year-old told her parents about the alleged abuse, Ibrahim was already on administrative duties because of a separate code of conduct complaint starting Feb. 22, RCMP previously said.

The girl’s mother and father both testified that Ibrahim returned to Montreal at that time. It was also around this time, the mother said, that she saw bruises on her daughter’s body that were allegedly caused by Ibrahim.

Ibrahim was suspended, with pay, on June 3, 2022, because of the SIRT investigation.

The SIRT investigation resulted in more code of conduct charges, which are all being investigated by the RCMP’s professional standards unit, the RCMP said.