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Negligence in Sexual Assault Investigation
Teliesha Rennalls is pursuing a lawsuit against the Calgary Police services (CPS) because they were negligent in the handling of her sexual assault complaint against Korku Tettey (Olijnyk, 2021; Martin, 2021).
Police obtained an arrest warrant 18 months after the assault (Olijnyk, 2021). Though they did not execute the warrant until three years later for an unknown reason as Tettey continued to live at the same address (Olijnyk, 2021; Martin, 2021). To add to this negligence, CPS had gone to Tettey’s home regarding an unrelated call and still failed to arrest him (Martin, 2021). Eventually, he was brought before the court in January 2014, but with several reschedules, he didn’t get into court until 2 years later (Olijnyk, 2021; Martin, 2021). When the news of the case was finally decided, the crowned stayed the sexual assault charges because of the Calgary’s police’s delay in advancing the case for the prosecution (R.S., c. C-34 [1993]; Martin, 2021).
First covered by the Calgary Herald by Journalist, Kevin Martin, this case shows an unprecedented example of the tort of negligence as it is against a police force (Martin, 2021).
“What’s important about this case is the argument that this is a novel case, that should have its day in court,” agrees Pawel Milczarek, Rennalls’s lawyer, “The CPS tried to have the suit struck…
