Thomas Claridge
Courts Reporter, Toronto

Officer denies assaulting teen-age prostitute

Constable Gregory Taylor, 46, told the Ontario Court jury that the complainant, who was 14 at the time, ran away from his cruiser before he noticed on a computer screen that a warrant was out for her return to the Harp House group home in Etobicoke, from which she had escaped three weeks earlier.

Describing the encounter on Feb. 1, 1996, the officer said he was embarrassed at having allowed her flight, and he admitted under cross-examination that his notebook should have contained more than her name and birth date.

His testimony was supported by a former partner and his current wife, who both recalled him having described a runaway incident involving a young prostitute. The spouse, Rose Ella Morrison, was one of three defence witnesses who also testified that the accused officer has a noticeably deformed penis.

Following the complainant's testimony Wednesday that she had not noticed anything unusual about the man's penis, defence lawyer Steven Skurka also called the constable's father and first wife, who testified that as a result of a freak childhood accident, his penis is curved when erect and has noticeable scarring.

The officer's ex-wife, Sharon Taylor, described the deformity as "almost like a joint," with the tip pointing downward at "not quite 90 degrees."

Testifying in his own defence, Constable Taylor rejected a suggestion by the crown that he made repeated checks of a police data base after the encounter "because you wanted to make another deal." The officer's explanation was that he had continued searching for her while on night patrols and checked his computer to see whether she had been apprehended.