Uncover - S11: "Carrie Low VS." E1: Taken

Episode Date: November 6, 2021

Carrie Low goes to the police to report she’s been drugged, kidnapped and assaulted. But the investigation does not go as she expects. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/uncover/carrie-low-vs-transcripts-listen-1.6218432

Hi, I'm Caitlin Prest, and I am here in your ear to tell you about a very incredible show called Asking For It. Asking For It is a darkly comedic series that follows a queer femme singer whose herstory of violence finds her no matter how many times she runs away. It has an original soundtrack, and it'll make you laugh laugh, cry and feel a little bit less alone. Asking for it. Subscribe now. This is a CBC Podcast. The story you're about to hear includes details of sexual violence. The content may be distressing for some listeners.

Please take care. Unfortunately, there always has to be somebody, and I guess that somebody's me this time for this, and there needs to be change. I need to keep going. It's not a want. I have to keep going. It's not a want. I have to.

It's September of 2019. Carrie Lowe is standing in a stark hallway on the seventh floor of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. I watch as the glare of TV camera lights click on and reporters move their bodies closer toward her, microphones extended. She's standing there, alone. She places her hand on a pendant she wears around her neck, an amethyst, a stone believed by some to have healing and grounding properties. Carrie casts her gaze downward. Carrie casts her gaze downward.

She draws a deep breath from her tiny frame and locks her eyes forward. Good evening. A Dartmouth woman whose rape investigation has dragged on for a year and a half is taking her case to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia. Her legal team says police systematically mishandled her case and they want her complaint against police investigated. Meanwhile her attackers remain at large. Maggie Rahr has the story and a warning. I first reported on Carrie's story just before her case launched at the Supreme Court. I just want to ask you what it feels like to be going up against the entire police department in this system.

Horrible. I can understand why survivors don't come forward. I can understand why victims of sexual assault do stop investigations. This is Carrie Lowe's story. It begins on a regular night out at a bar in May of 2018. At one point, she steps outside to vape, but she says she never made it back inside. The next day, Carrie says she reports to police that she was abducted and raped by men she did not know. She believes she was drugged. Carrie says that when she reported that day, she trusted police and the criminal justice system.

But now she's in the greatest battle of her life against the very institution that is sworn to serve and protect. I literally, I fear the police. I fear them. When I hear sirens, it brings all this PTSD back. And I'm, you know, I get anxious. I'm worried. I feel the more I'm speaking out, the more I get fearful. But who else is going to do it? I'm Maggie Rahr, and this is Carrie Lowe vs.

Episode 1, Taken. In the hours following a traumatic incident, experts say a person can seem to go on autopilot as they try to return to regular life. And moments that were once routine can become the anchor a survivor unknowingly clings to in a state of shock. The first thing I thought about that morning when I came to was my daughter had a soccer game at 8 in the morning. Carrie's 16-year-old daughter was a competitive soccer player, and that Saturday morning she had a game. And I had to get there, and that's where I went first. As Carrie is watching, she makes a decision.

She decides to talk to her daughter. And it was, if this is happening to me, it's happening to others. And I had to do something, and it was almost more of a motherly instinct to, this is what's right and this is what I need to teach my girls, that we need to stop this. that we need to stop this. Together, Carrie and her daughter go to the emergency department of the Dartmouth General Hospital. A sexual assault nurse examiner collects evidence and administers Carrie's rape kit.

This is a specialized role. Expert nurses who are trained in sexual assault. They respond using what is called a trauma-informed approach. This means honoring a balancing act of gathering evidence which could ultimately be used in a criminal prosecution without judging or blaming the victim. This means listening, being present. Carrie tells me that the sexual assault nurse asked her if she was willing to speak with police. An officer just happens to be on patrol and in the hospital waiting room that morning. She had said that there was an officer in the emergency department there on an unrelated matter.

And she went up to him and advised him that I was in the emergency room, that I was getting this rape kit done, and that I had consented to have police involved. So when she came back, she had notified me that this officer was there and if I was okay for him to come back to talk to me. And I said, yes, absolutely. So then she went back out to get him and she came back in with him. This is Halifax Regional Police Constable Bohan Novakovic.

So at one point, the curtain was pulled and the two same nurses were outside of the curtain. So it was just me, my daughter and the officer who was sitting. So I had my daughter on this side of the bed and the officer on the other side. And when he was asking me questions about what had happened or what I remembered that night, the same nurse pulled the curtain back and told him to stop, that this doesn't happen here. You don't question the victim here. That happens at the police department, not here. And then they sort of got into a verbal education where he said, well, you know, I've collected many of these kits and this is how we do it. This is our procedure.

And she was like, well, I've done 500 of these and this is not the procedure. And I need you to stop right now. So after they concluded their discussion, he decided to stop questioning me at that point. So after they concluded their discussion, he decided to stop questioning me at that point. Carrie says the officer gives her a plastic bag and instructs her to put her clothes in it and seal it as soon as she gets home. She says he tells her that someone will be by to collect the evidence that night. But nobody shows up that night or the next day. I was confused. I mean, I just didn't understand why they weren't there.

Carrie begins keeping lengthy notes, information she shared with me early on in my reporting. No one contacted me. No one came to interview me. No one did come to collect the clothes. So, you know, I thought, well, I'll give them till Sunday. And then the next morning I had called to speak to the officer who I spoke with in the emergency department. And he wasn't working until 7.30 that night, so I called again at 7.30. Carrie says when she reached Constable Novakovic, she asked him why no one had come.

And he had told me that it was a Saturday night, they were too busy. I questioned why hasn't anyone come to take me to the station, to interview me, to come to my house. And that's when he let me know that the SAIT team doesn't work the weekends. It was a long weekend. I wouldn't hear from someone until Tuesday. Carrie is referring to the specialized unit that responds to sexual assaults. It's called SAIT, the Sexual Assault Investigative Team. The SAIT unit only works from 9 to 5 on weekdays, although there are SAIT officers on call. I should note here that SAIT is jointly run by the RCMP and the Halifax Regional Police. So I kind of felt lost.

Carrie says when she woke up that Saturday morning, she did not know where she was. Carrie told police her underwear was missing and she left wearing only one shoe. So at that point I felt some anger and some resentment of why are you not coming to get the clothes? As Carrie waits to hear from the SAIT unit, she begins gathering information on her own. And at that point is when I also confirmed the location because I only had bits of the address, but I had confirmed it on Google Maps and I told him

and he made a note of that. She confirms the address with the taxi company that gave her a ride home. Carrie says she called and shared this information with Constable Novakovic, the first police officer she met in the hospital. According to Carrie, that call with Constable Novakovic took place on Sunday, May 20th at 7.53 p.m. I reached out to Constable Novakovic through the Halifax Regional Police about the alleged confrontation with the SANE nurse

and if he followed protocol during that initial interview. Halifax Regional Police responded, stating that as the matter is the subject of ongoing processes, it would be inappropriate to discuss specifics. I've seen emails between a SANE coordinator and a police sergeant. The letters show the nurse had relayed concerns about whether Novakovic had adhered

to a trauma-informed approach. The sergeant wrote that Novakovic said the interview was not problematic and that the nurses were confrontational at the start. On the Tuesday after the long weekend, Carrie would finally meet with an investigator. The details of the story you're about to hear may be painful for some listeners. Here is what Carrie reported to police. It began as an average Friday night at a bar,

unexceptional in every way. At that time I was vaping. I frequently would go outside to vape and come back inside. When I was dancing on the dance floor, I would leave my drink at the table. And I was coherent, like I wasn't stumbling, I wasn't overly intoxicated. And I remember at one point, I was walking to the bar from the dance floor and I noticed two men standing on the wall that I kind of felt, you know, they were looking at me in a different way.

It was making me uncomfortable. And I remember going around the bar and going outside. She says this was her last clear moment. And what follows are foggy and disturbing memories. Carrie believes she was drugged. believes she was drugged. And then my next memory is I have a flash of being back down on a car, in the backseat of a car and someone on top of me

and it's just a quick flash. And then my next memory is I'm in a car and they're still in this backseat and I'm squished up against a door and the car is full of people and I'm trying to get out of the car and they wouldn't, I was asking to get out and they wouldn't let me out. You can't get out. The police are here.

That night there was a fight outside the bar that police were responding to. And I remember hearing, the police are here, and I looked up and everything was blurry, but I could see the white and the blue side of the police word. Carrie describes losing and regaining consciousness. She says at one point, she realizes the vehicle is moving, taking her somewhere, all the while having no idea where she is.

She cannot get out. And I just remember, like, I need to get out, I need to get out. I didn't have anything with me. I just remember that. And they just kept locking the door and wouldn't let me out and then my next memory Sorry My next memory I'm lying face down on a mattress,

and someone from behind is having sex with me. And I remember crying and asking to stop that it hurt, and I black out again. And then my next memory is I'm in a different position. I'm on my back and it's a different person. And again, they're having sex with me. And then the next thing I know is I wake up in an old dingy camper. I don't know where I am.

And I'm trying to find my clothes. Sorry. And I find my pants and I find my sweater and I put them on and I come out from this camper and there was a guy there and I startled him and you know, and I'm frantic, I'm crying, I have no phone, I have no money, I have nothing and I just remember like, you know, do you have a phone, I need to get out of here, like, you know, I said something bad happened to me last night.

Somebody hurt me. Carrie says she asks the man to call a taxi. I just remember saying, like, he gave them the address and I could only remember the portion, the number and part of the street name. And I remember then asking to talk to the dispatcher, and I was crying. I was just, please send the driver quick, please, I need a driver. And he was like, it's okay, there's one nearby, calm down. And I left.

Thank you, Gary. Trees and houses whip past outside the taxi window as the morning light creeps through the clouds a sound stays with her and i kept hearing the clicking of the door lock and they wouldn't i was asking to get out and they wouldn't let me out. In 2017, it felt like drugs were everywhere in the news. So I started a podcast called On Drugs. We covered a lot of ground over two seasons, but there are still so many more stories to tell.

I'm Jeff Turner, and I'm back with season three of On Drugs. And this time, it's going to get personal. I don't know who Sober Jeff is. I don't even know if I like that guy. On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts.

There she is. On Drugs is available now wherever you get your podcasts. It's a cold, slushy day in February. It's been nearly three years since Carrie presented at the ER that morning. Carrie and I are sitting at my kitchen table. I've reported on many cases of violent sexual assault. These are very sensitive stories. It's important that survivors feel safe and comfortable during these conversations. So Carrie and I decide to meet in my home. When I met Carrie, I was struck by an image.

She has on her lap a massive stack of notes, and she peers over her glasses, running a finger down the pages, filled with information about the various officers she'd spoken with. Names, ranks, dates, times. She reminds me of a reference librarian. Carrie has spent her career as an operations manager in the shipping and transport industry. A lot of it's done over the telephone, so we have to make a lot of notes. And we also have to follow up with emails, and we have to make sure that everything's done correctly,

because not only are they time-sensitive, with drivers crossing the border, we have to have their documentation correct. And so my life has sort of always been tailored around details. I just have always been that way. Because this is second nature to Carrie, she says every time she spoke with anyone about her case, she made a note of it. Carrie is unlike any source I've ever worked with. Her notes and record-keeping surpasses any I've seen. Today, Carrie is going back over a record of contacts with police she created.

She tells me it's been more than two years since she looked at it. Okay, so here's my timeline notes. Sunday, May 20th, 2018, at approximately 7.53pm, I called and spoke with Consul Novakovic, who informed me that all officers were too busy on Saturday to do the pickup of my clothing. Carrie tells me that at this point, her clothing was still sitting in a sealed evidence bag in her possession, waiting to be picked up. The first investigator assigned to her case from the SAIT unit, the Sexual Assault Investigative Team, is RCMP Constable Jarelle Smith. On Tuesday, May 22, 2018, I was contacted by telephone by Constable Jarrell Smith to come into the Halifax Integrated Major Crimes Unit. Constable Smith informed me that my clothes had not been picked up by officers because it had been too long and my clothes could no longer be used as evidence, as they may have been tampered with.

He also said that the investigators would have enough evidence with the rape kit. Investigators would have enough evidence with the rape kit. Carrie says during that conversation, police told her they have not spoken with the taxi company or visited the trailer. Despite the fact that I had indicated that my underwear and one shoe was missing that morning. I later spoke with the same nurse who had suggested the clothing still should be tested. As DNA might be still on the clothing that was not present in the rape kit. Carrie meets Constable Smith to provide her first video audio statement late in the afternoon on the Tuesday following the long weekend. Every time I met him or talked to him, he would say to me,

at any time you want to stop, you can stop. We don't have to go through with this. While this may be considered a trauma-informed approach to offer comfort, Carrie doesn't want to stop. And I think if I was myself 20 years earlier and going through this, I would have stopped. I just knew, oh my God, I couldn't. Constable Smith tells Carrie he'll be in touch, but she can't get a hold of him. Calls and voicemails go unanswered.

Finally, she decides to try someone else. Tuesday, May 29, 2018, approximately 11.47 a.m., I called to ask to speak with Constable Smith's supervisor. He apologized that the clothing had not been picked up. Hours after this call, the same officer Kerry met in the ER, Constable Novakovic, shows up to collect the evidence. This is documented in Kerry's notes. The sealed bag has been sitting on a shelf for ten days. Carrie tells me that several times she did ask

police why no one has been arrested. I asked a lot like why didn't you go to the location I gave you that information. The first response I got was always we can't just go beating down doors Sorry and then afterwards it was well, we didn't need to go we believe that you were there Tony keep reading all these. Yeah, so let's yeah Do you want me to keep reading all these? Yeah, so let's just start with these. On Wednesday, June 20th, 2018, at approximately 3.03pm, I left another voicemail for Constable Smith with no response.

Thursday, June 21st, approximately 10.43am, I called and spoke with Constable Smith, who informed me that the police were having a difficult time reaching a person of interest, but were planning to meet with him on June 25th. Kerry says when she called to find out what happened during that meeting, Constable Jarrell Smith told her the witness had cancelled and the meeting had been rebooked. Kerry keeps calling.

On Monday, June 25th, approximately 11.30am, I left a voicemail. Wednesday, July 4th, 2018. Thursday, July 5th, 2018 left a voicemail Wednesday July 4th 2018 Thursday July 5th 2018 Thursday July 12th 2018 no response again with no response with no response and then multiple times through the months with interviews emails phone calls I would ask I don't understand why you didn't go to the location. After months of struggling to gain information on her file, Carrie goes higher up the chain of command. She is successful in arranging a meeting with a superior officer in the SAIT unit,

Halifax Regional Police Sergeant Linda Gray. Thursday, July 12, 2018 at 2.30 p.m., I and my victim services worker met with Sergeant Linda Gray, who apologized to me on behalf of the police, stating that SAIT should have been called in on the long weekend by the duty supervisor on staff that weekend to begin investigating my complaint immediately. supervisor on staff that weekend to begin investigating my complaint immediately. Carrie says Sergeant Gray told her that someone would be in touch in the coming days to update her on her case. But Carrie says no one called.

We contacted Sergeant Linda Gray requesting an interview. She declined. Linda Gray requesting an interview. She declined. Another delay and another disappointment and another... I feel like every time we did get a response, it brought more questions, more not understanding, more what is going on in there?

What is going on with my file? Nine months into the investigation, Carrie is informed that Constable Jarrell Smith is no longer assigned to her file. The person she'd shared every detail with is gone. Carrie says police told her Jarrell Smith was not removed for disciplinary reasons, but they did not explain further.

He was pulled off my case as lead investigator and I received a new RCMP investigator. And when I met with him the first time, he had asked me if there's anything he could do for me and I said, the one thing that you can do is don't ask me to stop. This is Carrie's new lead investigator. Two months later he brings Carrie in to videotape her statement of what happened that night. This will be the third time she has been asked to

repeat her statement. It's traumatizing. It's reliving the experience. It's very emotional. By the time I did the third one, I was starting to question, especially having been almost a year, like, you know, are they believing me? Coming up on Carrie Lowe vs. Coming up on Carrie Lowe vs. Maybe they don't believe her, but they should still be gathering evidence. It's like criminal investigation 101. Carrie's search for answers leads to a groundbreaking court case.

I am not aware of any other cases where the complainant has made a complaint against an entire police department. And an offer of help from the person she least expected. I remember panicking. I remember just pacing the floor in my kitchen. What does he want to talk about? Thank you. Fact-checking by Emily Mathieu. Theme music by Aqua Alta. Our senior producer is Chris Oak. And the executive producer of CBC Podcasts is Arif Noorani. He was selling me out. I was making a move. I was waving goodbye. And he was screaming out, out, out. He was crying. For more CBC Podcasts, go to cbc.ca slash podcasts.