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Ex-military leader Haydn Edmundson’s defence lawyer cross-examines complainant

Feb 7, 2024 | 9:12 AM

OTTAWA — Defence lawyer Brian Greenspan got heated this morning while cross-examining a woman who accuses his client, Haydn Edmundson, of raping her more than 30 years ago.

The judge asked Greenspan to take the temperature down after he raised his voice and pointed at the woman during her third straight day of emotional testimony in an Ottawa courtroom. 

Edmundson was a senior commander and the complainant, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, was in a junior rank when they were deployed together in 1991. 

She testified Monday that she was sometimes assigned to wake him for night watch and that she became very angry after finding him naked and fully exposed one night. 

She told court that a couple of days later, he called her into his sleeping quarters to talk about that incident, where he raped her. 

Edmundson, a retired vice-admiral and the military’s former head of personnel, has pleaded not guilty and denied any wrongdoing. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 7, 2024.

The Canadian Press