Toronto Officer Acquitted in 2017 Assault Facing New Charge

A Toronto Police Service logo patch is shown in Toronto on Sept. 5, 2023. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby

A Toronto police officer has been charged this week with assaulting a woman seven years after winning an acquittal in a high-profile sexual assault trial.

Const. Sameer Kara was arrested and charged with assault by the Professional Standards unit after an alleged dispute with a woman on  Dec. 20, according to a Toronto Police Services press release. 

Although Toronto police have not released any details about the alleged assault, the Dec. 21 press release said Const. Kara, 40, has been suspended with pay as per the Police Services Act.

Const. Kara, who has 14 years of service and works in communications, was also charged with assault in April of 2022 after a woman was allegedly struck during a dispute.

A press release issued at the time indicated Toronto police responded to a call in the area of Dundas and Keele Street shortly after 5 a.m. An arrest at the scene resulted in Const. Kara being charged with assault. He was also suspended with pay in connection with the dispute.

The Toronto Police Service has since confirmed no criminal convictions arose from the case and Const. Kara was able to resume his duties.

Sexual Assault Case

In 2017, Const. Kara was acquitted in a high-profile sexual assault trial in which two fellow officers were also accused. Const. Kara, Const. Leslie Nyznik, and Const. Joshua Cabero, all officers at 51 Division at the time, were accused of sexually assaulting a female parking enforcement officer while she was too intoxicated to consent.

The complainant, who could not be named under a court-issued publication ban, alleged she was sexually assaulted multiple times at a downtown hotel in January 2015, according to court documents. She told the court she was unable to move or talk during the alleged assault and said her memories of the incident were spotty.

Defence attorneys for the accused said the woman was “fully conscious and capable at all times,” adding that she consented to all of the sexual contact that occurred, and “initiated much of it,” the documents say.

Superior Court Justice Anne Molloy acquitted the accused officers, saying the victim testimony presented in court was inconsistent with previous statements made to police.

Justice Molloy noted that security video footage showed the complainant walking normally into the hotel while talking with two of the accused officers.

The testimony of her symptoms “are inconsistent with objective video footage,” Justice Molloy wrote in her August 2017 decision, adding that the Crown had not proved the guilt of the three officers “beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The judge described the complainant’s evidence as “too fraught with problems to stand alone,” adding that she had “looked in vain for corroboration.”

“Based on the complainant’s evidence, I cannot be sure about what happened in that hotel room,” she wrote. “It is simply not safe to convict.”