Shocked by cop's come-on

Photo: CTV

Tim Shields enters court in Vancouver.

A former RCMP employee says she will never forget the sound of the door being locked behind her by a now-retired inspector who is alleged to have sexually assaulted her in a washroom at their Vancouver workplace.

"I remember the sound just felt shocking, the sound of the lock when he turned it," the woman testified Tuesday as she stared into the distance and turned her hand as if to lock a door.

Tim Shields, who was the public face of the RCMP in British Columbia as the department's spokesman, has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault. He previously worked at the Kelowna detachment.

The woman, whose identity is protected by a publication ban, told provincial court she was confused when Shields said he had something to tell her and led her into a unisex washroom at the Mounties' former headquarters in Vancouver in the fall of 2009.

"I remember him saying, 'I found this place, and it has a lock on the door,' " she said. 

"He went under my blouse. He undid my bra. He touched my breasts. Then he went toward my waist. He unbuttoned my pants and he was trying to unzip my pants when I pushed his hands away and said, 'No, let's go.'"

"I just remember being quite scared about the whole thing and wanting to get out."

Shields then did up his pants and washed his hands and face in the sink, the woman said.

Shields left the RCMP in December 2015 and was charged the following May.