WARNING: This article contains allegations of sexual abuse.
Roxanne Greene travelled from Labrador to be present at a rare Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Public Complaints Commission (RNCPCC) hearing on Monday in St. John’s.
Her ex-husband, retired Sgt. Nick Rumbolt, declined to participate.
Greene gave emotional testimony throughout the day, alleging Rumbolt broke into her house one night in 2009 and violently raped her. She said the sexual assault followed a period of intense harassment, often while her ex-husband was on the clock and in uniform.
“You said you were afraid of him,” RNCPCC lawyer James Strickland said. “Did that fear ever go away?”
“No,” Greene replied. “It’s burned into my head.”
The hearing got underway on Monday morning with news that Rumbolt had retired from the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and would not be taking part.
Rumbolt was represented by lawyer John Drover, who was there only to ensure proper procedure was followed.
“Because Mr. Rumbolt is retired, while the commission retains jurisdiction over the complaint it has no jurisdiction over the officer,” Drover said.
Rumbolt is facing a number of alleged breaches of RNC regulations, including conduct unbecoming of a police officer, failing to follow proper procedures, being discourteous to a member of the public and using his position as a police officer to gain advantage.
The timeframe for the alleged breaches spans 2009 to 2019.
“Mr. Rumbolt has always maintained this was a longstanding marital dispute and has declined to participate, and therefore I have no instructions,” Drover told the hearing.
WATCH | Complainant says too late for any sense of justice:
RNC Public Complaints Commission holds hearing
A Labrador woman stood before the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary’s Public Complaints Commission on Monday with serious allegations of intimate partner violence against her ex-husband retired Sgt. Nick Rumbolt. The complaint was first filed in 2019. The CBC’s Ryan Cooke reports.
RNC refused to listen to complaint, Greene testifies
Greene testified she was on her way back from picking up food at a restaurant on April 4, 2009, when Rumbolt pulled her over. She said it was the first time she’d seen him since the alleged sexual assault. She said Rumbolt yelled at her and demanded to know what she was doing.
Fed up, Greene said she drove straight to the RNC station in Labrador City to file a complaint. She said Rumbolt followed her there, and said “You just f–king think about what you’re doing.”
Greene said she tried to speak to officers at the detachment, but nobody would take her complaint. She testified she went back two days later to meet with a sergeant.
“He put his fingers in his ears and went, ‘Nah-nah-nah-nah, I don’t want to hear this, do I?’” Greene testified.
She said the officer passed her a blank piece of paper, and told her to come back if she still wanted to proceed. Greene wrote out her complaint, but said she declined to mention the alleged sexual assault because she didn’t believe the officer would take her seriously based on his initial reaction.
When she brought in her written complaint two days later, she said the same sergeant told her to file it as an internal complaint so it would be dealt with quickly, and wouldn’t “mess with a man’s career.”
Greene said he stood over her shoulder as she wrote an addendum to her complaint.
“I’m requesting this matter be dealt with promptly,” Greene wrote. “I’m requesting this to be handled as an internal RNC complaint as opposed to a public one.”
A short time later, the officer brought her an informal resolution document and asked her to sign it.
“He assured me, and I heard him say it — ‘You keep this in house and he’ll be good.’ But that didn’t happen.”
“Did the behaviour stop?” Strickland asked.
“No,” Greene replied.
Roxanne Greene, right, was in St. John’s on Monday for a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Public Complaints Commission hearing regarding her ex-husband, retired Sgt. Nick Rumbolt. (Ryan Cooke/CBC)
Rumbolt transferred out of Labrador following later in 2009. Greene said she remarried, and had several years of relative peace.
That changed around 2018, when she heard rumours her ex-husband was being transferred back to Labrador West. Greene said she met with a senior officer, who attempted to give her some reassurance.
“He said if there’s even a ripple in your pond, I will drive him back to Corner Brook myself,” Greene testified.
Within two or three days of that conversation, Greene said she ran into Rumbolt at a community fundraiser.
“As he’s walking past me he says ‘you f–king c–t,’” Greene testified. “I knew then that it was going to be just like it was before.”
Traffic stop led to investigation, but no charges
Greene and her husband, Gary, both testified about a traffic stop on the Trans-Labrador Highway a short time later.
Gary admitted he was speeding, but said Rumbolt wasn’t supposed to have anything to do with them.
While his wife was on the phone with dispatch asking for another officer, Gary said Rumbolt walked up to the car window and told her to “shut the f–k up.”
Both Gary and Roxanne Greene said the dispatcher told them to go home and wait for a call. They were interviewed by RNC Insp. Tom Warren a few days later.
“He’s a dangerous man,” Gary said he told Warren. “I said you’ve got a man running around with a gun on his side who is unpredictable.”
Roxanne Greene then lodged her complaint with the RNCPCC.
It was sent for a criminal investigation by the RCMP. At that point, a decade after the alleged incident, Greene told officers she’d been sexually assaulted. The subsequent investigation, reviewed by the province’s Serious Incident Response Team, concluded without charges.
In 2022, Greene amended her complaint with the RNCPCC to include the alleged sexual assault. She wrote how she screamed and pleaded with him, saying “You don’t have to do this.”
Greene’s husband testified she told him of the alleged assault while they were dating in 2010, when he came over unannounced one night and discovered she slept with her dresser pushed against her bedroom door.
Greene credited her husband with being patient and understanding as she dealt with the fallout of her previous relationship.
“He went out of his way to plaster all the knuckle prints that were in my mouldings and my walls,” she said.
As her testimony came to a close, Greene asked if she could make a statement. Strickland gave her the floor.
“All of this that has happened, I can’t change any of that,” she said.
“I can’t change things that were wrong. It’s too late for me to have any kind of justice. But it’s not too late to make changes so there’s not going to be another me. Domestic violence is not a bad breakup. I need changes. I need something good to come out of this. I need something good to come out of what has happened. I know you’ll probably object, but there are times when the RNC could have held itself to a higher standard.”
The matter has been set over to Dec. 7 for oral submissions.
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada database.
Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.