A Vancouver Supreme Court judge has ruled that an ex-RCMP officer, facing several sexual assault charges, will be dealt with in three separate trials.
Details of the allegations against Gary Rudi Groenke, a former officer in Sechelt and Vancouver, were heard in court on Tuesday where a judge ruled on a severance application. Groenke has pleaded not guilty to all seven counts, which include charges of gross indecency and sexual assault.
The alleged assaults against three young boys as young as 12, were said to have occurred between 1983 and 1991 in the Sechelt area and Vancouver. A publication ban has been imposed prohibiting the publication of the names of the alleged victims.
In court Tuesday, Crown counsel Marion West argued against the severance application saying the charges of gross indecency and sexual assault were very similar and related to all three victims. However, defense counsel Patrick Doherty stated that although there are similarities, the actual offenses were different in all three cases and that it would prejudice his client by having all three victims involved in one trial.
Madam Justice Mary Ellen Boyd agreed with Doherty and as such, ordered three separate trials to take place.
The first of the three trials starts Monday, March 28 in Vancouver.
Groenke was acquitted in February 2008 in a Victoria courtroom of similar sex offences against minors.
