Mountie says complainant’s story on John Furlong was inconsistent

CANADA
The Globe and Mail

SUNNY DHILLON
VANCOUVER — The Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Jun. 24, 2015

The RCMP officer who investigated a sex-abuse allegation against former Vancouver Olympics CEO John Furlong says the complainant’s story kept changing and could not be corroborated, prompting the decision to not lay charges.

Corporal Quinton Mackie testified Wednesday in a B.C. Supreme Court defamation case. Freelance journalist Laura Robinson has sued Mr. Furlong and alleged he defamed her in his response to a September, 2012, story.

A criminal complaint was filed against Mr. Furlong by Beverly Abraham in July, 2012. She had been a student at Immaculata Roman Catholic Elementary School in Burns Lake, B.C., where Mr. Furlong was a physical-education instructor in 1969-70.

Cpl. Mackie testified that after investigating Ms. Abraham’s complaint he chose not to file a report to Crown counsel.

“In the case of Ms. Abraham, there was never a consistent story,” he said. “There were certain consistent aspects to the story but names were changed, scenarios were changed all the time. And there was nobody – be it a parent, a friend, a family member – that could corroborate anything that was being said.”

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